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There’s a strange Russian boy in Mike Wheeler’s house, and he can’t figure out how to get him to leave. At the moment, Mike is currently attempting to stay away from Hopper’s rampage over Joyce’s lack of personal safety. But he can hear peals of laughter coming from the family room downstairs, and an emotion akin to jealousy builds in his stomach.
Will Byers is Mike’s best friend in the entire world. He doesn’t say it enough, and that fact is coming to bite him in the ass. Now he’s sulking in his bedroom like a kid while the world is ending. If nothing else, Mike likes to pride himself on his observational skills. Since all the upside down madness began all the way back in 1983, Will doesn’t smile enough.
Ever since the town of Hawkins began to literally fall apart, Mike’s own life has gone in a similar fashion. The stranger’s name is Mikhail Antonov, or something equally stupid. Apparently the creatures crawling out from hell were posing an actual threat to the military, so Hopper decided to enlist a few of his friends from abroad.
That would have been fine, really. Mike knows that he’s definitely not much help in a fight, but things are starting to really get ridiculous. Mikhail is Enzo’s kid, and he’s 99% sure that Will may be in love with him. It’s not like he’s homophobic or anything, Mike makes sure to clarify even in his own head, however those two together? Bullshit. Will is perfect, sweet and kind. His new friend seems to be the complete opposite, a slimy bastard with a penchant to drink a little too much at any occasion.
They’re still laughing away downstairs, completely oblivious to Mike’s emotional turmoil and distress. He isn’t quite sure what to do with this newfound anger, so he decides to head to the kitchen to make coffee. Mikhail hates the stuff, saying it’s bitter and tasteless. And Will’s response, someone who regularly drank at least three cups every morning? He nodded and smiled, before Mikhail wrapped his arm around the brunette’s shoulder and dragged him off on some other stupid adventure.
“He’s such a simp,” Mike grumbles under his breath while reaching for the coffee pot. “It’s embarrassing!”
Then, there’s a sudden slam behind him. He practically jumps higher than Max when she got Chrissy Crumbled, and turns to see Mikhail’s disapproving face. “What is your sad face for, frog boy? Are you jealous of me?”
“The hell?” Mike snaps back, partially offended. “I am not! Why would I be?”
A smile creeps up the other boy’s face, strange enough to get him shivering. “Your little friend like me better, does he not? You are pissy.”
“I- huh? That’s not it at all! I don’t know what you’re talking about!” But maybe, Mike realizes, Mikhail is onto something. Not in a romantic way, of course. It's a bromance, like what Dustin and Lucas have. He’s only caught the two kissing once, and they were both drunk as all hell.
Mikhail laughs, shaking his head. He reaches for Mike’s back and begins to push him in the direction he arrived from. Mike protests, but the other is stronger than he first assumed. Only a few seconds later, he finds himself flushed and panting from a feeble attempt at fighting back in front of his platonic life partner. Will looks him up and down, a matching smile on his friendly features.
“Mike, what’s going on?”
At that moment, Mike decides that he has a couple options he can choose between. One, play dumb. Pretend that he has no idea why his Russian doppelganger is forcing him to talk things out. Two, actually process his emotions and let Will know that he might be a teeny tiny, little bit envious of Mikhail. And in a regular Mike fashion, he ignores both perfectly good ideas and proceeds to fuck everything up.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you were gay? I would have supported you, even if your boyfriend’s some weirdo who mixes vodka and tea!” Will blinks once, and then twice, before bursting into laughter. He makes a halfhearted attempt at containing it, but soon tears are streaming down his face. Mike’s confused, his brain not entirely functioning at full capacity. Why is Will… happy? Shouldn’t he be at least a little bit annoyed that Mike’s being an asshole?
“Mikhail, my boyfriend?” Will gasps, cheeks bright red. “You’ve got to be kidding! Sure we kissed like, a couple times, and he already has a partner!”
Oh. Whoops.
“Ah- that’s good to hear. I’m really relieved actually,” Mike says, relaxed until the look on Will’s face hardens. “Not that I think that getting a boyfriend would be bad or anything! But you can do way better, obviously.”
“Do better? In this town?” Will sighs. “That’s really unlikely.” His expression changes again quickly, interest and mischief lighting up his face. “Though I am curious Michael, why are you so passionate about my love life?”
“Well I- you’re my friend! My best friend, and I worry about you!”
Will gets to his feet, and closes the gap between them. If he was gay, which he isn’t, Mike would guess that he was about to get kissed. Instead, he can hear Mikhail snicker behind his back while Will peers at him as if examining one of his paintings. He opens his mouth, but before Will can continue the interrogation, Mikhail speaks up first.
“Oh my god, just kiss already! Frog boy is madly jealous of me because we kiss without socks, and Will’s crush on you is so obvious. I can’t stand this, it’s worse then those stupid movies Theo loves watching!”
Silence. Mike’s brain hasn’t booted up again yet. He and Will are best friends. Best friends don’t kiss! He turns on his heels, practically on autopilot and reels back a fist. Before he can sock this stupid Russian kid right in the face where he deserves it, Will grabs hold of his arm and keeps it firmly in place.
“I’m not bailing you out of jail for assault, Mike, no matter how much I love you.”
Love.
“You what?” Mike yelps, tearing out of Will’s grasp. “You can’t love me, that’s crazy!”
“Crazy together, ya?” It’s Mikhail again, and Mike growls. Did Will just spill his entire life story to some stranger the second Mike wasn’t around?
“He’s right,” Will snorts. “Crazy together.”
Not entirely sure what he’s doing, and aware that it's mostly fueled by annoyance at the voyeur in this private moment, Mike reaches tentatively for Will’s face. When met with little resistance, he wraps a possessive hand around the other’s neck and leans in for a kiss. It feels good, and warm, and Mike could actually get used to this. He forgets entirely about breathing, the fact that the entire world could explode, and that Mikhail is still watching them. Will pulls apart first, with a satisfied grin.
“Not bad huh?”
Mike laughs, finding happiness easy now. “Not bad at all. Now get that piece of shit out of my house, mom will be home in five minutes!”
A month later, they receive a Christmas card in the mail. It’s Mikhail, with some blond man around his age and a dog that takes up half the picture.
“And it’s January!” Mike says, running a hand through unruly hair. “How the hell did you even think about kissing someone as stupid as him?”
Will only smiles. Probably an attempt at saving his own dignity. Mike will let it slide, just this once.