Chapter Text
“Will! You almost ready?” Jonathan calls out from where he’s leaning against his car.
“Coming!” Will yells back, shuffling his feet inside his shoes. He puts his backpack on, feeling the weight of his summer clothes stuffed inside. He runs out the front door, down the porch steps, and to where Jonathan and the car stood.
The trunk had been left open, as he already had put his two small suitcases into it. He throws his backpack down onto them, and hurriedly closes the trunk.
Joyce and Hopper stood on the porch, his large arm wrapped around her waist. Her right hand was splayed across his chest, and Will could tell she wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet.
Ever since his first year at NYU ended, Will and Jonathan decided they wanted to stay with them at their beach house in Montauk for a few weeks.
Will thought Montauk was beautiful. The salt air and the soft sand was heavenly, he almost didn’t want to leave it. But, he knew he wanted to only stay with them for a short part of the summer. Because what he really wanted, and had been planning for months, was to go back to Hawkins to see his friends.
He didn’t really want to be in Hawkins, per se. But, the rest of the party wanted to go back and spend time with their families, so Will agreed that Hawkins was the best place to go for the summer.
He had spent hours, upon hours, chatting on the phone with the party planning this summer.
They all pretty much went their separate ways when it came to college. Will went to New York University, and took the spare room in Jonathan’s apartment. Lucas and Max went to University of Illinois Chicago together, so they knew all about living in the “big city” like Will did. Dustin, obviously, went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was the only other member of the party that he’d actually seen during other times besides winter and spring break. He was the closest to where Will was, and well, Will wanted to still see his best friend as much as possible. Jane, who now only goes by Jane instead of El, didn’t go to college. After the Bridge was destroyed, Jane wanted to get out of Hawkins and explore the world as soon as possible. She learned how to drive faster than anyone else in the party, and got her license first. As soon as they all graduated, she hopped into her used car that Hopper surprised her with for her seventeenth birthday, and drove off to see everything. She had visited Joyce and Hopper a few weeks before Will and Jonathan had.
As for Mike, he, for some reason, didn’t really want to leave Indiana like everyone else had. He went to Indiana State University and of course was studying for his creative writing degree.
Will and Mike still talked, of course. Not near as much as Will would like, though. He felt like he talked to everyone else more. Mike wrote more letters than he did talk on the phone with Will, but Will didn’t understand why. Talking is always easier.
Will steps back onto the porch, looking at his mom. He opens his arms wide, a smile making its way onto his face. Joyce chokes back a sob, falls out of Hopper’s hold and into Will’s embrace. They hold each other tightly for a few moments. Will felt her nose brush against his hair, “Don’t you dare forget to call, Will. I’ll miss you so much.”
Will smiles into her shoulder, nodding his head as much as he could, “I won’t, Mom. I promise.” He slowly pulls away from her, and turns around to see Jonathan behind him on the porch.
“You too, Jon.” Joyce points a finger at him. Once she sees the smile on his face, she walks over to him and gives him just as big of a hug as she gave Will.
“Love you, Mom. See you soon, okay?” Jonathan says as he pulls away from her, and walks over to Hopper and clasps a hand on his shoulder, “See you later, Hop.”
Hopper lets out a grunt in response, and gives Will a side shoulder hug. “Bye, kid. When you see Jane, tell her she needs to visit us more. We’re lonely up here.”
Will laughs in response, “Yeah, okay, I will.” Jonathan and Will walk towards the car together, and waved one final goodbye at their mom and, basically, father.
Jonathan gets into the driver’s seat, and Will climbs into the passengers. “You ready to go back to Hawkins?” Jonathan asks, adjusting the stick shift.
Will leans forward as he sorts through the glove compartment, looking for a cassette to pop in as they drive. He finally finds a good one; Jonathan’s music taste used to be something he liked, but not so much in recent years.
He pops the cassette in, and leans back in the seat, the back of his head bumping into the headrest.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Jonathan gives him a small smile, turning his keys in the ignition. He presses play, and Kiss Me by The Cure fills the air of the small car.
The next morning, Will and Jonathan wake up bright and early from their motel room to get a head start on driving. Will decides to take the first half of driving today. He is, admittedly, the worst driver out of his friends, so he didn’t do it very often. Lucas took the number one spot when it came to ‘best driver.’
After driving for a few hours, and seeing the Welcome To Indiana sign, he wakes Jonathan up from his nap and switches places with him. And soon, they enter into Hawkins.
As Will looks out the window at his hometown, he feels his nerves pick up. Yeah, he’d been back here for Christmas break and stayed a few nights, but this was different. He was spending the whole summer here. He even plans to get a summer job so he can have a little extra cash for his next semester at college.
Passing downtown, the library especially, brought back so many bad memories that he wishes he could just forget entirely.
He exhales a bit, trying to remember that it’s all over now, those horrible, traumatizing days are done. The only monsters in this town now are the people who don’t even view him as human.
Maybe they’re even worse than Demogorgans.
Soon enough, they arrive at the Wheeler’s house, a two-story, perfect suburban home, for a perfect suburban family. It might be the complete opposite of what Will grew up with, but Will knew the house like the back of his hand. The basement was his and Jonathan’s “bedroom” while they stayed there during those military-riddled eighteen months.
Jonathan parks the car, and looks over at Will. “Nance is already at Steve’s house, so I’m just gonna drop you off here. Not really any need for me to say hi to Ted Wheeler.” Jonathan says with a roll of his eyes.
Jonathan is staying in Hawkins too for the summer. While Karen happily invited both Jonathan and Will to stay at their house, much to Ted’s displeasure, Jonathan politely declined. Him, Nancy, Steve, Robin, and Vickie were staying together at Steve’s house for the summer.
Steve’s parents got bored of Hawkins, apparently. So they moved out of their, quite frankly, huge house, and practically gave it to Steve. Jonathan’s been planning this summer as much as Will has.
He’s glad, even though they aren’t in New York anymore, that he will still have his older brother close by if he ever needs him. Though, he did remember Jonathan vaguely mentioning they might be vacationing out of Hawkins a few times this summer.
“Thanks, Jon. I’m just excited to finally get out of this cramped car.” Will says, unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the car door. He rounds to the back, and pops open the trunk. He throws on his backpack, and heaves the two suitcases onto the ground. He pulls both handles up and walks to the driver's side with them.
He smiles down at Jonathan through the window. Jonathan gives him an encouraging nod back, already fully aware of how nerve wracking being back at the Wheeler’s already was.
Will makes his way to the front door, and hears Jonathan drive away from the cul-de-sac. Will takes his backpack off and places it on top of one of his suitcases.
Will stares out the front door for a moment, frozen in place. Mike is behind that door. In that house. He’s probably splayed out on his bed, reading a comic Will is sure he’s probably read a thousand times before.
Will imagines his slightly more toned out arms; he knows Mike’s been working out since he started at ISU. Probably wanted to impress every girl he saw there. Will knew that ever since Jane dumped him after the Upside Down blew up, that Mike felt like he needed to have a girlfriend.
Mike’s been insecure all his life. Will didn’t understand why, though. He thought he was perfect; the most beautiful freckles, chocolate brown eyes, and head full of black curls.
As far as Will has been told, Mike has had no such luck in the dating department. That does slightly relieve Will, not knowing if he could take that kind of pain of Mike being in a relationship again.
And, well, Will had no luck in dating either. He knows he’s been too shy, most of the time. He feels like his lack of experience is entirely his fault.
There was this one guy that did catch his eye. Matthew, who sat next to him all year in his art class. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was interested in Will or not. One time Will thought he caught him staring at his ass, feeling his eyes bore into him. When Will turned around to look at him, Matthew quickly turned away with a flushed face.
He was taller than Will, with a head full of very curly brown hair, and he had hazel eyes like Will did. He was kind, and Will was sure he was just as much of a nerd as he was. He was pretty much perfect.
He was not, however, a certain tall, jet black haired boy, who smiled at him from across a D&D table. No, that boy was just on the other side of this door.
No more stalling. Will sighs shakily, and presses his thumb to the doorbell. He hears it ring, and a distant voice that indistinctly says, “Holly, don’t get it! I think it’s Will, let me get it.”
Suddenly, the door swings open, and Mike Wheeler stands there, looking utterly fucking perfect. And all he was wearing was normal clothes. Will’s breath catches in his throat anyway.
“Will! Hey!” Mike smiles wide, and lets go of the door handle to wrap his arms around Will.
Will was taken aback a little; the last time he saw Mike in December, he was a little distant and only gave Will a short, side hug. But, now here he was, hurriedly hugging him tight.
“Fuck, I’ve missed you.” Mike whispers into Will’s shoulder. Will’s heart skips a beat, and he finally wraps his arms around Mike’s upper back.
“I-I’ve missed you too, Mike.” Will whispers back, and Mike finally pulls away, his hands lingering a bit on Will’s waist.
“Will!” Holly calls, as she runs in behind Mike.
Mike quickly jerks his hands away from Will’s waist, back down to his sides. He steps over, and as soon as he does, Holly jumps to give Will a huge hug.
“Oh! Holly, hey!” Will chuckles as he hugs her back, just as tightly.
She pulls away, excitedly gripping onto his shoulders, “I’ve done so much art since you’ve been gone! I’ve even started my first ever canvas!”
Will’s smile turns wide, hearing that Holly has been continuing on her art makes his heart soar. She told him years ago that she wanted to be an artist just like him, and up until he left for college, he made sure to dedicate a few hours each Saturday to teaching her techniques and everything he already knew how to do. She was talented, and he was sure she’d progressed even more since December.
“That’s so great to hear, Holly. You’re gonna have to show me everything you’ve done, okay?” Will says as he pats her shoulder.
He’s about to turn around and bring his suitcases in, when Mike hurriedly beats him to it. “Uh, it’s okay, Will! I got it for you.” Mike says quickly, throwing Will’s backpack on and grabbing onto the handles of the suitcases, rolling them inside, and shuts the door behind him. “I know you talked about it with my Mom, but where are you sleeping?” Mike asks.
Will quirks an eyebrow at him, not sure why that’s even a question. “The basement, Mike. You know, where I always sleep when I’m here.”
Mike looks surprised for some reason, but then quickly nods, “Right! I don’t even know why I asked.” Mike carries both suitcases downstairs easily, and Will’s stomach does a little flip. He packed those suitcases to the brim, and now Mike can just carry them so easily? With his not-so-light backpack on his shoulders? He wonders what else he could carry.
Holly gives Will another hug, then wanders back upstairs to her room. Will walks into the living room, hearing the familiar sound of the local news playing on the television. “Hello, Mr. Wheeler.” Will says, as he spots Ted lazily sitting in his favorite chair.
Ted’s eyes slowly flit over to him from the television, raising an eyebrow up at him, “Will, you’re back, huh?”
Will’s not even surprised by his mannerisms. “I thought you knew I was coming back.”
“Course I knew, it’s all my son could talk about this morning after he woke up.” Ted remarks, looking back over at the television, already done with this short conversation.
Will stands there staring at him, and then smiles to himself. Mike always did this, talking about whatever new thing in his life that excited him the most. Will guesses that today’s topic was his arrival.
Will hears Mike come back up the basement stairs, and then turns around to see him walking back up to his side. “Just ignore him.” Mike says, wrapping his hand around Will’s bicep and pulling him towards the kitchen. “You hungry?”
Will blushes a little, Mike dragging him around was something he was used to, but not since he started working out a bit. Will’s everlasting desire for him had already made its way back to the front of his mind.
“Yeah, starving actually. I only had a granola bar today.” Will says as he walks over to the pantry, looking for the bread to make a sandwich.
Mike suddenly puts an arm out in front of him, making Will stop his movements. “Nope. Don’t do anything. I’ll make it for you. Peanut butter and strawberry jelly, right?” Mike asks, reaching for the bread and closing the pantry door behind him.
Will stands there, a little dumbfounded. “Mike, I can make my own PB&J, actually. I don’t need you doing everything for me.” Will says, yet he walks back over to the counter and hops onto one of the stools.
“Yeah, I know you can, Will. I know how capable you are at things.” Mike winks at him, setting the bread down and making his way to the fridge, pulling out the peanut butter and the strawberry jelly, setting them down on the counter
Will rolls his eyes, “Okay, then why are you doing this for me?”
Mike starts to assemble Will’s PB&J, biting down on his lower lip. “Because, it’s finally summer vacation and you’ve been working hard all year.”
“So have you.” Will retorts.
“Eh, doing art is way harder than any kind of writing I’ve ever done.” Mike dismisses, cutting the PB&J vertically just like how Will prefers. “Kettle chips?” Mike asks as he walks back over to the pantry.
“Always.” Will responds.
Mike gets him out a small bag of kettle chips, and places it on the plate with the PB&J sandwich. He slides it over to him, smiling wide at Will, “For you, my cleric.”
Will, of course, gets giddy over this. “Why, thank you, dear paladin.” Will smiles back, already getting right to eating; he was fucking hungry.
Mike walks to the cabinet with all of the glasses, gets him one and fills it with water. He places it next to his plate on the counter, taking a deep breath before he begins speaking again, “Hey, so—“
The door to the garage suddenly swings open, and Karen Wheeler comes in with an armful of groceries. “Mike! Come help me bring the rest in, please.”
Mike groans, but nonetheless goes to the garage to help.
“Hi, Mrs. Wheeler!” Will says, covering his mouth with the palm of his hand as he chews.
Karen beams immediately at him. She puts down all the bags, walks around the island and pulls him into her embrace, “Will! Honey, I'm so glad you made it!”
Will wraps her arms right back around her, “Yeah, I’m so glad to finally be here. Thank you, again, for letting me stay for the summer.”
She pulls away from him and begins unloading the groceries, “Oh, Will, it’s no problem at all. After everything you’ve been through… we’ve been through, we’re all practically family.”
Will hears a disapproving grumble coming from the living room.
Karen rolls her eyes, putting the milk in the fridge, “And, I’ve told you before, you can call me Karen, okay?”
Will nods, and Mike comes back in with the rest of the groceries, closing the garage door behind him. Carrying more heavy stuff. Will finds it hot still, unfortunately.
He places the bags down and starts unloading with his mom beside him. “Oh! Boys, I did see something while I was out that I think you’re gonna like.” Karen singsongs.
Will raises an eyebrow, and she continues, “There’s two available positions at the movie theater. Apparently, it’s just the manager now and he needs workers. You both were wanting to get summer jobs, right?”
The movie theater… It sounds like a ton of fun to Will. Especially being in the A/C on a hot, sunny day. Last summer, he and Lucas mainly worked outside helping people all across Hawkins with mowing their lawns. At the end of each day, his clothes were so sweaty he felt like he had to wash them twice just to get them clean enough.
“Holy shit, that’s actually so perfect! We would basically get to watch movies all the time, hopefully for free.” Mike says excitedly.
“Michael.” Karen warns.
He rolls his eyes, “Sorry. We would be good movie theater workers, right Will?”
Will giggles, “It sounds like a lot of fun. And it’s probably easy too.”
Mike smiles at him, and finishes putting the rest of the groceries away for both him and Karen. “Thanks for telling us, Mom. We’ll go there tomorrow and apply.”
He walks over to Will and grabs his empty plate and glass, and puts it in the sink for him. He comes back and grins down at him, “Wanna go to the lake?”
Mike Wheeler wastes no time to get what he wants.
They decide to take Mike’s car instead of biking to the lake, both agreeing that it was way too hot to be biking right now.
When they arrive, Mike pulls his backpack out of the backseat, and brings it into his lap. He unzips it and pulls out what is, undeniably, a bottle of beer.
Will’s eyes widen in surprise at the sight, and Mike immediately grins.
“Where did you get that from? I thought your Mom only drank wine.” Will questions, eyeing the brown bottle.
“My dad always drinks more beer during the summer. He’s so lazy and out of it most of the time, he never notices when I sneak a bottle or two out of the fridge in the garage.”
They both head out of the car and walk towards the sandy shore of the lake. They were the only ones there, most likely everyone else was crowded together at Hawkins Community Pool. They wanted to be able to splash around and have fun without bothering other people. And drink too, apparently.
Will sets down two towels next to each other and sits down on one. Mike sits next to him on the other, and passes Will the sunscreen.
Will lathers himself up with the sunscreen, only after doing so, he realizes he won’t be able to get his back without help. He hesitantly looks back over at Mike, and hands him the bottle, “Will you do my back for me?”
“Of course.” Mike responds immediately, and squeezes a generous dollop of sunscreen onto his palm, and then rubs his hands together. He starts lathering it on Will’s shoulders first, massaging it in. He makes his way down his back, pressing into his spine. Will has to literally bite back a moan, why the fuck did Mike putting sunscreen on his back have to be so erotic?
“Your muscles are tense, Will. You should relax a bit more.” Mike hums from behind him, and finally finishes putting the sunscreen on.
Will turns back around, and Mike is handing the bottle back to him. “My back too, please?” Mike asks sweetly.
Only because he asked so nicely (Will would have done it anyways). Will lathers sunscreen on Mike’s back and shoulders, his eyes wandering over the constellation of freckles that littered over his pale skin.
God, Mike is beautiful.
He finishes, handing Mike back the bottle with a tinge of a blush on his face. He waits patiently as Mike puts sunscreen all over his body.
Finally, Mike hops up onto his feet, grinning down at Will, “Let’s get in. It’s way too fucking hot to not be in the water.”
Will follows after him, and they run into the lake water. He’s so glad that it feels refreshing; he hates whenever water is way too cold or way too hot. This water feels just right.
They float and splash around for awhile, laughing and playing with each other. They do a handstand competition at one point, and of course, Will wins.
“God, I feel like my legs flail around in the air too much. How do you get yours to be perfectly straight?” Mike asks, after he resurfaces from a failed handstand.
Will laughs, “Maybe it’s because my legs aren’t as long as yours.”
Mike laughs too, “Great. I’ll never be straight then.”
Eventually, they get waterlogged, and they swim back over to their towels. Will splays out on his, popping his sunglasses right over his nose and closing his eyes.
As he lays there with his hands behind his head, it was quiet. He’s not sure what Mike was doing, but he could feel his eyes on him. Will sits up and pushes his sunglasses up on his forehead, opening one eye to look at Mike. And, lo and behold, he was looking right back at Will.
Will couldn’t help the nervous giggle that came up his throat, “What?”
Mike just stares back at him, smiling slightly. Will could almost see his own reflection in Mike’s wide, brown eyes. He thought he saw a spark of something in Mike’s eyes, but it was probably the sun glaring too much.
Instead of replying to him, Mike takes the beer bottle out and hands it out to Will to take, “Wanna drink?”
Will looks at him for a moment, contemplating. He had only tried drinking a few times, mainly last summer after graduating high school. He wasn’t that big of a fan of it, but it was his first day back in Hawkins and he wanted to loosen up a bit.
He rolls his eyes for theatrics, and takes the bottle from Mike.
They end up passing the bottle around, taking turns. Will opts for big gulps, while Mike takes small sips. They talk about their past year of college; what it was like living with just Jonathan, what it was like for Mike living in his tiny dorm with his roommate, Justin.
“Do you ever accidentally call him Dustin?” Will asks with a grin.
Mike laughs, “Only all the fucking time. He’s even like him too, always explaining things to me in a technical manner.”
They move onto talking about the rest of the party. How Lucas and Max always went karoking every Saturday, and how Jane was climbing fucking mountains all the way in Oregon.
“Oh, they called the house earlier. Lucas and Max. They’ll be here sometime tomorrow afternoon.” Mike adds.
Will is grateful to hear that. He’s missed his friends so much. He made a few friends here and there in college, but none like the friends he had here, in Hawkins. None could even compare to them. None could even compare to Mike. How could anyone compare to his first ever friend?
Will’s fate was sealed the day that little boy came up to him and asked if he wanted to be friends.
They move onto talking about the classes they were in for the year and the assignments they worked on. Will talks about how he had to do a portrait once about a famous person that inspired him, and he painted Bowie. Mike seems to be proud of him while hearing that.
Mike talks about how he had to write an entire paper on a personal figure in his life that had changed the most over time. He chose Steve fucking Harrington.
“I had to be on a two hour phone call with him, and I took notes the whole time. My hand was cramping so badly by the end of it, Will.” Mike exasperates.
Will smiles, taking a sip of the gross beer. Yeah, he didn’t enjoy beer very much. “I mean, he really did change so much in just a few years. He was the first person Robin ever came out to.”
Mike takes a small sip of the beer that Will hands back to him, finishing it off. He holds it down into his lap, tracing his finger around the rim at the top. “You know.. that kinda reminds me, I was actually wondering if you had met anyone at all this year. Like.. a guy.” Mike says, his eyes following his finger’s movements around the bottle.
Will swallows a little, not really expecting Mike to ask that. Mike and Will had this thing where they don’t really talk about dating and stuff with each other too much, something to do with Mike being a painful idiot in the past and ignoring him so he could spend time with his then girlfriend.
Will also just didn’t like talking about being with guys, or crushing on guys with Mike. He, of course, knew Mike accepted him for exactly who he is. He just doesn’t want to bother him with that kind of stuff, and it’s also not his favorite topic to talk about with the guy he’s still not completely over.
“No. Well, I mean, kind of. Actually, I don’t really know.” Will finally answers him back.
Mike perks up, looking into his eyes now, “What do you mean?”
“Well, this guy who sat next to me in my art class. He’s really sweet, and I’m pretty sure he’s gay.”
Mike seems to tense up a bit, his grip on the bottle suddenly tightening. Will’s confused as to why, but he continues anyway, “I’m just not sure if he’s even interested in me. And, anyway, I wouldn’t even know where to start with… that. So, yeah, in conclusion, I’m still single.”
Mike’s quiet for a moment, looking back down at his lap. Then he asks, “What’s his name?”
Will sighs, “Matthew.”
Mike smiles a little, “Oof, ‘M’ name, huh? I mean, all the guys with ‘M’ names must be so charming.”
Will bursts out a laugh, “Mike.”
Mike laughs with him too, “Well, you shouldn’t be expected to make the first move, anyway. That should totally be on him.”
Will furrows his eyebrows, “Why?”
Mike coughs into the back of his hand, looking away from Will, “W-Well, because you’re you. Anybody who looks at you should be able to immediately tell that, ‘Hey, that guy probably gets tons of guys asking him out all the time. I should probably make the first move.’”
Mike continues, avoiding Will’s eyes, now staring out at the surface of the lake, “I know you’re a bit shy, but you are good looking, Will. And, you have the best personality of anybody I’ve ever met. You shouldn’t be the one working hard to get a guy, a guy should be working hard to get you.”
Will stares at him, blinking a bit. His face was definitely now flushed from both the sun and Mike’s words. But, then he remembers something. Mike is his best friend. Of course he’s going to be telling him things like that, to help boost his confidence. It doesn’t mean anything special, Will concludes.
Will looks back over at the lake with Mike, watching as the sun slowly sets behind the trees.
“I guess we should probably start heading back then, huh?” Mike says next to him.
Will turns his head back over to Mike’s lap, seeing the empty beer bottle, “Probably should wait until you sober up a bit, Mike.”
Mike nods, laying back down onto the towel with his hands behind his head.
They end up staying at the lake for another hour, giving ample time for Mike to become sober before he has to drive back.
On the way back, they listen to the mixtape that Holly had gifted Mike this past Christmas. Most of the artists on the mixtape they didn’t care about, but they loved Holly and laughed together about her choices for Mike.
They arrive back in one piece, and walk into the kitchen wrapped around in their towels. It was already late, and mostly everyone had gone to bed for the night. They heat up some leftover pizza from the Wheeler’s dinner that night, and Will makes his way to the basement to eat.
But then, Mike halts him and points his head upstairs, and Will nods. He’s a little confused, normally he doesn’t ever go up to Mike’s room; everyone and Mike always opting to hang out in the basement.
As they approach his closed door, Will whispers, “Why are we up here?”
“Because there’s something I wanna show you.” Mike whispers back, pushing open his door. Will walks in and hears Mike close the door behind him. Will stops in his tracks when he spots it.
A painting of his is tacked to the wall right above Mike’s desk. His typewriter sits neatly in the middle of it.
It’s not just any painting, though, it’s the painting. The painting Will gifted to Mike all those years ago in the back of a pizza van that smelled more like weed than, well, pizza.
Mike walks over to his desk, setting down his plate. He traces his pointer finger around the edge of the painting, smiling to himself. “I hung it up on my dorm room wall right next to my desk, all year long. I realized when I got back home, that I never actually hung it up here. In this room, probably where you always wanted me to keep it.”
Will walks closer to the desk, leaning against it slightly as he continues to look at the painting. “I mean, I- Jane always meant it to be with you, wherever you go, so you could always be reminded of who you are, Mike. You’re our heart.”
You’re my heart.
Mike’s smile fades a bit, and he looks back over at Will, “Yeah, exactly. So, it, of course, had to come back with me for the summer. And, it will be coming with me when I go back next semester.”
Will walks over to the edge of Mike’s bed, and sits down. He starts eating his slice of pizza, feeling grateful he got to eat again; the lake wore him out. “Thanks, Mike. For hanging it up. I know you and Jane aren’t together anymore, but it still means a lot to me. That you care about that painting.”
Mike sits right down next to him, and eats his own slice of pizza, “Will, of course I still care about that painting. It’s a huge reminder to me everyday that I am who I am because of my friends. And everything we’ve been through… I mean, don’t you feel like you can do anything now?”
Will frowns a bit. He does feel more free than he used to feel. And after saving the world so many times, he should feel that way. Guess it looks like Mike seemingly does.
“I don’t know, I’m not the bravest person in the world.” Will shrugs, taking another bite of his pizza.
Mike appears to hesitate, but then replies with, “You’ll get there Will, promise.”
Will doesn’t say anything, and they finish up their pizza. Mike gathers their plates and puts them on his desk.
Will does suddenly feel a little brave, though. Because he asks something; something he’s afraid to know the answer to.
“Hey, so, you asked me if I had met anyone during my year… but I never asked you.”
Mike stills, his back to Will.
“So, have you? Met someone?” Will asks from the edge of the bed.
Mike doesn’t answer right away. Will can’t see his face, but he knows Mike. Knows that the question was something he wasn’t expecting.
Mike finally turns around, a small smile on his face. “Yeah, a girl.”
That was definitely the answer Will knew he wasn’t gonna like. He’s also a little confused, though. He never heard it directly from Mike, but from Dustin and Lucas that “Mike was as lonely as ever.” It still broke his heart in two, though.
“I mean.. We aren’t really that serious or anything.” Mike says as he sits back down next to Will.
“But, she’s pretty fucking cool. And she’s uh..” Mike rubs a hand on the back of his neck, blushing a bit, “Good in bed.”
Will’s eyes widen at that, but Mike seems to be happy. He just couldn’t believe that Mike wasn’t a virgin anymore. Actually, he could; Will thought he was fucking attractive just sitting next to him.
“Oh, wow, Mike. You… lost your virginity?” Will asks, his cheeks heating up at the thought of it.
“Well, yeah,” Mike shrugs, “But, that’s not all. She taught me a lot of stuff, you know how to make other people feel good.”
Will feels like his head is spinning. On one hand, he’s imagining Mike being so fucking good in bed. On the other hand, he’s imagining Mike being so fucking good in bed with a girl.
“You know, I feel like you might benefit from that kind of knowledge too.” Mike casually says.
Will laughs, “What, me being good in bed?”
“I mean, yeah. Imagine all the guys you could get with once they find out how good in bed you can be. That’s basically what happened to her.”
Will stares at him, “Wait, what’s even her name?”
“Her name’s Katie, but I call her Kat for short. She’s basically a sex goddess.” Mike shrugs, smirking towards Will at the end.
“Sex goddess?” Will scrunches up his face, the thought of Mike Wheeler having sex with a girl was bad enough, but knowing he’d found someone so experienced hurt in ways he didn’t expect.
Mike waves a hand at the look on Will’s face, “The point is, she taught me everything there is to know about sex. And I…” Mike pauses, looking down at his lap briefly, his cheeks tinted a light pink, before looking back up at Will, “I could teach you everything she taught me.”
Huh?
Will was at a loss for words. He couldn’t believe what he just heard. He blinks twice at him, mouth hanging open slightly, and before he could even say anything, Mike quickly interjects,
“W-What I mean is, I could help you. Become more experienced for all of the guys that await you in your future. It’s… what you deserve.”
Will felt his heart flutter a little. He… did know it’s what he deserves. After everything that happened with Vecna and the Upside Down, Will knew he deserves to be happy. Deserves to know what it’s like to actually live life. Even after all these years, since that day everything ended, he still feels like he hasn’t had a chance to do everything a normal teenager would have done. And, he wants to be experienced and in the know for his sophomore year of college, and for his twenties.
But… Mike teaching him of all people? Mike’s not even gay, so Will isn’t sure how this is supposed to work out well. Then again, is flirting and kissing and cuddling different for gay people than it is for straight people? Robin taught him the signals for how to tell if someone was interested back in you, but was there more to that? Things Mike couldn’t teach him?
Will sits there, spiraling for a moment, his thoughts racing a mile a minute. It wasn’t until he heard Mike cough into his fist that he realizes he hadn’t even replied to him.
Will gulps, “Teach me… how?”
Mike sits up a little straighter, his eyelashes fluttering, “Well, I could pretend I’m… interested in you. And you could pretend you’re interested in me. Like… play pretend. I act out things, and you respond to them. And I’ll teach you what to say and what to do.”
Mike inches a little closer to him on the edge of the bed, putting his hand down on the sheets right next to Will’s. “Like how to flirt. How to…” He pauses, his breath stuttering a bit, “To touch someone. In a pleasurable way.”
Will feels his breath catch as he stares at him. And he didn’t think it could get any worse until Mike spoke again:
“Maybe even how to kiss… If you want.”
Will’s heart rate picks up so fast after hearing that, he feels like he might explode. Mike, wanting to teach him how to kiss? He knows he and Mike are very good friends, best friends, but he wonders if Mike would offer this to Dustin or Lucas if they were just as inexperienced as he was.
Of course, they weren’t though. Lucas had Max, and from what Will heard from their weekly late night Friday phone calls with her, Lucas was definitely good in bed. Dustin had also bragged to him before once when they met up for lunch, telling him how this girl he hooked up with a few times, Veronica, said he was the best kisser she’d ever been with. Dustin also remarked about how good he was at… eating girls out. Will lost his appetite after he heard that, but he still gave Dustin a smile and told him he was happy for him.
Will thinks for a moment. He already established that yes, he did deserve to know what it was like to flirt with a guy or make a guy feel good. He also knew if he agrees to this with Mike, he might not make it out of it alive. His heart was still racing from the mere mention of kissing Mike.
“So, what do you say?” Mike asks, giving him a small smile.
Will looks down briefly, watches as their hands lay side by side on the sheets of Mike’s bed. His eyes sweep over to Mike’s lap, and his throat bobs. Would Will… see what he looked like if he did this? Would he be able to touch him?
Will’s eyes move up to Mike’s exposed stomach, his eyes caching at his belly button. Then, his eyes move up to Mike’s chest, unable to stop himself from staring at his slightly hard nipples. His eyes move up to his throat, his jaw, then finally to his lips.
Will swallows harshly. Finally, after all this time, he might actually be able to find out what it’s like to kiss someone. And, not just someone, but the Mike Wheeler. The same boy he’s been in love with for years; desperately trying to move on, desperately trying to have eyes for some other guy, so the pain could hurt less.
Will realizes he wants this. Like, badly. Under Mike’s guidance, he could learn so much. He almost didn’t care how much this could potentially hurt him. Almost. But, Will thinks it’s worth the risk.
Will finally looks up into those big brown eyes he fell in love with all those years ago, “Yes. Yes, I’ll do this with you. God, Mike… teach me everything.” Will practically pleads.
Mike seems to be surprised at first, but his lips quickly upturned into a smirk. He suddenly leans closer, his hand moving towards Will’s that currently lay on the bed. Mike’s left pinkie graces Will’s right one, and Will immediately could tell that this was on purpose. Mike’s first lesson.
Mike starts to lean over him, and Will, not knowing what to do, leans backward onto the bed. His head softly hits the pillow behind him, and Mike crowds into his space. He was completely leaning over him now, his knee pressing lightly against Will’s thigh. There was still a wide, stupid smirk on his face.
Mike hums, glancing down briefly at Will’s lips, then back up to his eyes, “Kat was good at riding. I’ll have to… instruct you how to do it too. Once you’ve sunk down onto my cock first, though.”
Will feels his entire face and neck flush red almost instantly, his breath catching in surprise. What the actual fuck? He wasn’t expecting Mike to say something so fucking dirty so fucking soon.
Mike suddenly smiles, leaning back away from Will and sitting right back down next to him. “Lesson one: Flirting. My goal was to make you flustered, and it clearly worked.” Mike laughs out.
Will blinks at him, and then suddenly he’s laughing too. Okay, good. It was a joke. Kind of.
He playfully punches at Mike’s right upper arm, sitting back up again, “Slow down there, Mike. We’ve got plenty of summer for that.”
Mike chuckles, “I know, I know. I just want you to get used to someone flirting with you. You gotta be aware of when it’s happening.”
Will rolls his eyes, “Mike, I think I’ll be able to tell when a guy flirts with me if he’s telling me he wants me to… ride him.”
Mike suddenly looks a little flustered too, but nowhere near as much as Will currently is. “Okay, yeah, fair enough.” He says playfully defeated.
Mike glances down at this watch, his smile fading a bit, “Well, it’s getting late. And I know you’ve had a long day getting here. And I did keep you in the sun too long. You must be tired.”
“Yeah, you’re right, I’m exhausted. I think I’ve got to set up the mattress in the basement.” Will says, standing up and walking towards the door. He stops and turns to face him when he hears Mike clear his throat,
“You, uh, sure you want to stay in the basement? I know it was practically your room for eighteen months but, uh—“ Mike falters, “My bed is more comfortable.”
Yeah. There is no way Will is going to share a bed with Mike. Especially if they’re going to be doing this whole “teaching sex” thing.
“It’s okay, Mike. Your bed is only a full, and we would be really close together. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
Mike doesn’t say anything, but looks down at his lap and nods a bit. Will gulps, feeling a bit bad about denying it straight away, but he’s got to protect his peace somehow.
“Plus, I, uh, really like my alone time at night. I know you probably do too.” Will adds, hoping that’ll crack a smile out of Mike.
And it does. “Oh yeah, I definitely like my alone time. Especially in my own bed.” Mike waggles his eyebrows at him, earning a giggle from Will.
“Okay, okay.” Will continues giggling, he walks back to the door and opens it. He turns his head towards Mike to give him a smile, “I’ve really missed this. Us. Have a good night, Mike.”
The smile Mike gives back is equally as wide, “Yeah, me too. Night, Will.”
Will shuts the door behind him, sighing carefully. Time to make way to the basement.
As Will lay in bed that night, freshly showered and sun-kissed, he stares up at the ceiling, thinking back on his day. Arriving back in Hawkins was actually kinda nice, he concludes. The town doesn’t feel as constricting as it once did. He finds comfort in the Wheeler household once again. He’s excited to see Max and Lucas tomorrow; he hadn’t seen them since Christmas.
Then, he starts thinking about Mike. Just seeing him again left butterflies in his stomach, but, God, he was not expecting his first day with him to turn into all of that.
“Kat was good at riding. I’ll have to… instruct you how to do it too. Once you’ve sunk down onto my cock first, though.”
The words kept repeating in his head. As he thought about it more, he feels his cock stir to life in his thin briefs.
No. No, not now. I do not want to start jerking off my first night here.
Will ignores his arousal promptly, shuts his eyes tight, and turns over with a huff.
What the fuck have I gotten myself into?