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Spider-Will dangled down from the lantern post.
“Nice to see you again,” he smirked.
“Spiderman,” Mike’s eyes were bright, and he wore an almost childish smile. “I-hu, I’ve– Can I take a photo of you?”
“A photo.”
“I just– I won’t publish it, I swear. I just- uh… yeah.”
“Sure, I guess. Can I trust you?” Will asked smugly.
“Yeah! Of course, but… feel free to track me down if I ever go back on that.”
“I have no clue who you are, doll,” Will lied.
“Mike Wh–”
“No, no- no, that wasn’t an invitation. I can’t tell you anything of mine. Wouldn’t be fair.”
“It’s fine, I don’t mind.”
Will had never seen Mike this eager before. He was always… chill, and laid back, and now he was nervous out of his mind.
“One picture,” Will decided, “And then I’m off.”
“Yes, thank you so much.”
Mike walked back, got on one knee, and held his camera up. It flashed, and Mike looked at the display proudly. When he looked back up, Spiderman was gone.
Will sat on the floor, his back resting against the bunk bed he shared with El.
He’d actually gotten back about a minute ago- glad the mask had saved his hair from getting wet in the rain and incriminating him.
Mike barged in, babbling excitedly.
Will looked up, already smiling.
“Oh my god Will, you won’t believe it, I actually spoke to him!” Mike smiled madly, sitting down by him, showing off his camera display.
“Wow,” Will said, genuine. The picture of him had come out really well. Made him look super cool. “You should publish that.”
“I promised him I wouldn’t.”
“Shame. It looks really good.”
“I know right?!” Mike smiled, and dropped his head backwards onto the bed. “Aah, what I wouldn’t do…”
“You really like him, don’t you?”
“Who wouldn’t? He’s cool, and sarcastic, and mysterious, and–”
“Do you have a crush on him?” Will asked suddenly.
“What? No! Of course not! I just think he’s cool! Who wouldn’t want to be friends with a superhero?”
“Hmm, okay…” Will laughed and stood, ignoring a weird sensation in his lower stomach, “I’m gonna shower. Are you staying over?”
“Can I?”
“Sure. Call your mom though.”
“Yeah I will.”
El had yet another ‘sleepover’ at Max’s, just a couple fire escapes away. Hopper stupidly allowed it, because he didn’t yet have the capacity of mind to realise lesbians could exist. But luckily, for the same reason, Will could sleep over at boys’ houses, and Mike could sleep over here.
Not that anything was happening. Though Will wished it would.
Out of their friend group, Lucas had reacted the most negatively to the news of Max and El, but mostly because he’d been crushing on Max for a long time. El had confided in Will a long time ago- just when they’d moved in together as siblings, and El didn’t know if she wanted the top bunk or the bottom.
‘Well, it’s fine. We can always swap later if you want.’
‘Really?’ She’d asked.
‘Yeah. You don’t have to decide now. Which do you want to try out first though?’
‘...Top.’
And at the top she’d stayed.
Meanwhile, Will had accidentally said that he found Bowie very pretty, actually, and El had looked at him and said, ‘Maybe we’re both gay.’
Now, a Bowie poster decorated the back of their door, and a Nine Inch Nails poster just beside the door.
It was isolating of course, and sometimes he wished he could just scream it at the top of his lungs. But he couldn’t, so he didn’t.
And every time he caught Mike staring at the Bowie poster, Will’s heart raced just a little, at the very idea of hope.
Mike was his best friend. He felt a deep warmth and comfort in saying that.
They had known each other for so long. Through thick and thin. And when friendships disappeared and appeared around them, it was always those two who stuck together.
Well, they had been spending a bit less time together lately…
Will simply had all of New York to save every Tuesday. That sort of thing messes with your energy levels.
Will’s eyes felt heavy, and he started leaning against Mike.
“Hey, wanna watch a movie?” Mike asked.
“Hm? Oh, yeah…” Will yawned, “Sure.”
Mike helped Will up, and together they walked to the cramped little living room. The sofa and the TV barely fit.
“What do you wanna watch?”
“Anything’s fine,” Will wrapped the blanket around him, and curled up on the sofa.
Mike put on one of El’s favourite movies: Labyrinth from 1986, with David Bowie.
“For your Bowie obsession,” Mike said proudly, settling down by him.
“This is such a kid’s movie though,” Will smiled, unsure.
“I can put on the Breakfast Club too, if you want.”
“Yeah, but I’ve watched that so many times already. Oh!” Will shot up.
“What?”
“Little Shop of Horrors! Have you seen it?”
“No, not yet.”
“Ohh, it’s so good! You’ve gotta see it! It’s from 1986 too,” Will jumped up and switched the VHS.
“Okay, okay,” Mike smiled, “Share the blanket, you hog.”
“Yeah yeah.”
At this point, Will knew what Mike was doing. Whenever Mike came over as kids, Will would try to stay up later, even though at heart he was a 9 PM sleeper, and always had been, and always would be.
But he’d try to push through for Mike, who could seemingly go on for hours.
Even now, as they were teenagers, Will would try to stay up later for Mike, and Mike would find creative new ways to put him to sleep.
The most effective techniques were warmth, repeated sound, and a repeated movement.
So, Mike would share a blanket with him, play a movie, and occasionally, he’d get away with playing with Will’s hand.
This time, Will leaned against Mike’s shoulder, yawning already.
“There’s no one home,” Will said, “Mom’s got a shift until 2 AM today. Hop’s still away on that trip.”
“Yeah, and El’s at Max’s. Why?”
“We can act as gay as we want, and no one will judge us. We know we’re just friends, but we can do whatever.”
Mike smiled at him confused, “Are you asking me to cuddle, Byers?”
Will rolled his eyes, “I’m just saying. We know what we are.”
“Alright,” Mike said easily, and started shifting.
“Wait, what?” He’d said it in a moment of brash desperation, loneliness and longing. And now he was doing something, and Will was hoping desperately that he was very wrong. And hoping even more that he was right.
“Just give me a second.”
“What are you up to!”
“Give me a second!”
Mike shifted around until he was leaning with his back against the arm of the sofa, and he lifted up the blanket.
Will stared at him, uncomprehending.
“Well, come on!”
Will smiled, starting to panic.
Mike sighed dramatically, and pulled him against him by his waist.
Will practically fell on top of Mike, and Mike wrapped his arms tightly around him, throwing the blanket over the two of them.
Will couldn’t comprehend a bit of the movie anymore– his heart went crazy, just worrying. At one point, in a random burst of ‘Whatever! Life sucks and then you die!’ he readjusted to feel comfortable, and laid his head plainly and comfortably on Mike’s chest, like it belonged there.
Mike’s hand migrated to his hair, and started messing with it.
“‘S that ok?” he asked quietly.
“Hm,” Will agreed.
As the movie progressed, Will quickly started falling asleep. They weren’t even at Grow For Me, and Will had already let his eyes rest a bit…
“You’re not falling asleep on me already, are you Byers?”
“Hm-ngh- no. No, not at all.”
Mike laughed, and returned his attention towards the movie.
But Mike was so wonderfully warm, and the noise of the TV, and the nice sensation of Mike’s hand in his hair…
Will stayed awake for his favourite song, Dentist! but fell asleep soon after. Mike stayed awake until the end, but was struggling near the climax. When the title credits rolled, Mike was fast asleep, and wouldn’t remember how it ended either way.
They woke up stiff, and groggy as they heard someone giggle.
With a drop of his heart, he realised it was El. He heard her put down Mike’s camera, and he knew immediately what she’d done with it.
The moment a door shut, and the shower started to run, Mike sat up, clearly having been awake for a bit.
Will squinted, looking up at him.
“Morning…” Mike groaned, miffed.
“Ugh… Why didn’t you wake me?”
“I fell asleep too, okay?” But there was no harm behind it.
Will sat up and stretched, yawning. “Ohh, my back hurts…”
“Next time I drag you back to bed, so help me god.”
“Ugh…” Will stood, and licked his lips, “Gonna make waffles. You want some?”
“Ooh, yeah.”
“Can you get the plates out?”
“Sure. Three?"
“Yes please.”
They set the plates, chatting quietly, as Joyce walked out of her bedroom.
“Morning boys,” she said, kissing Will on the head, and rubbing Mike’s shoulder in passing.
“Morning mom.” “Morning Ms Byers.”
“What are you boys making? Waffles?”
“Mhm. You want some?”
“Yes please.”
“I’ll set another plate,” Mike grabbed more forks.
“Where’s your sister, Will?”
“Uh, showering I think.”
“Ohh, there goes the water bill,” Joyce whined, “I’m gonna bother her.”
Will smiled, and started pouring the batter into the machine.
“El, five minutes!”
“Yes!” El called.
Mike leaned with his back against the counter, “Table’s set.”
“Thanks,” Will smiled genuinely, “Sleep okay?”
“Yeah, just fine. Bit rough, but well enough. I think I’ll head home after breakfast, somewhere. Got a shift today.”
“Hm. When, again?”
“The later one. 7 till 10.”
“Yeah,” Will yawned.
“Still sleepy?” Mike smiled.
Will shoved him without much power, “Dick.”
“Seriously though. Have you been getting enough sleep? You always seem tired lately, and you show up late to everything.”
“Yeah, I’m just… I keep bothering El with my nightmares. I’m not… I dunno. I don’t know what I was gonna say.”
“Hm. Well, you can always sleep at mine. If you want. You know I sleep right through your nightmares.”
Will chuckled, “Thanks. I might take you up on that offer.”
Joyce walked back into the living room/kitchen/dining room lifting up every cushion and checking under every chair.
“What are you looking for?” Mike asked.
“My…uh- sunglasses. I can’t find them anywhere.”
“I’ll help you look. What do they look like?”
“I could’ve sworn I left them in their case- it's black, about this big? And the glasses are the brown ones.”
“Oh, yeah I remember.”
Will called, “El! Waffles!”
El gasped loudly, and dropped something in the bathroom, making Joyce, Mike and Will laugh.
She ran in, steam puffing out into the hallway, her hair still somewhat wet at the ends.
“Thank you!” El exclaimed as Will put a waffle on her plate.
“Yeah, yeah. Knock yourself out.”
“Slowly, El, slow!” Joyce had to remind her.
“How was the sleepover?” Will asked sarcastically.
“I could ask you the same thing,” she responded, not missing a beat.
Mike and Joyce made eye contact for a second, both pulling their mouths straight.
“They taste good, Will,” Mike smiled.
“I’m glad,” Will joined them at the table, and they chatted idly.
Eventually, Joyce had to run, and El got a chime on her flip phone.
“Hm, Demogorgon spotting near central park,” she said.
“Oh, Spiderman must be near,” Mike perked up.
El and Will made eye contact.
El had help make Will’s suit (she’d found out about his powers the day after it happened) and turns out her magic was of the same general sphere, so she’d done the actual work on the suit while Will chose the colours and the pattern on the front.
“Uh, not that I… I just want a cool picture of him,” Mike backed down.
El nodded, eyeing Will strongly. “I want to go skating. I will text Max.”
“Alright.”
The moment El was out of the door, Mike shot up, grabbing his stuff, “I’m gonna see if I can spot him again. I wasn’t really supposed to tell anyone I’d met him, uh… Will, can you not tell anyone?”
“Sure,” Will stared up at him, particularly lovestruck.
“Thanks, man,” he took the fire escape from out their bedroom window, and Will waved him off before immediately jumping into his suit, and racing off.
Demogorgon!? On a Saturday morning!?
He raced around central park, hiding in the trees and out of sight. It seemed fine…
He stayed around a bit longer, but decided afterwards it was definitely a false alarm. He sighed, and slumped onto the lantern post.
He looked around, suddenly spotting a camera pointed directly at him.
The camera shuttered, and Mike looked up at him with big eyes. Will shook his head, but laughed, and swung away.
The next time there was an actual alarm was on a Monday evening, El and Will were patching Will’s suit up, adding bits and things.
“Oh,” El picked up her phone as it pinged. “Demogorgon spotting.”
Will threw the suit on, and was out the window within seconds.
“By the Bryant Park, by the library!” El called out the window.
“Yep!” He zipped off, passing over traffic, and the beautiful New York city skyline. He was starting to know all of New York like the back of his hand- every street name, every park, every public bathroom.
He’d started taking his walkman and his headphones with him while zipping over. He turned on the cassette, and Gone Hollywood by Supertramp started playing.
As the somewhat grand sweeping part of the song kicked in, three minutes later, he spotted it.
The demogorgon was very much so right there, actually, unlike he’d assumed for the last however many false alarms. Suddenly, he was unsure if his walkman was going to survive this one.
He landed right on the edge of the park, and the monster stood right there, terrorising the people it had almost caught.
“HEY!” Will screamed, a lot louder and deeper than he thought he was capable of.
The demogorgon looked up at him, and screeched, leaping and taking off towards him.
Shit! He shot some web fluid, but the demogorgon ripped it off within seconds. He needed more time if he wanted to encase it somehow.
He zipped around, singing along under his breath, “ If we only had tiiime, only had time, for youuu … Shit–” he slipped and fell backwards, shooting webfluid onto the demogorgon’s head, and pulling himself sharply up. That turned out to be the move he needed, as he flipped over the monster, encasing some of its head in web fluid.
“HA!” He called triumphantly, yanking him down, and running circles around him, encasing him more.
When suddenly he spotted Mike Wheeler standing right there .
His eyes went big, and he got distracted– within seconds the demogorgon ripped open from its restraints, and looked over towards Mike.
“No!” Will screamed, but he was after Mike now. “Mike, get out of here!”
Will looked, saw a stray branch, shot at it, and threw it at the demogorgon’s head.
With those few extra seconds, he ran towards Mike, scooped him up and swung away with him.
“You moron!” Will scolded, “What were you thinking?!”
Will set him down on the roof of a building.
Mike looked shaken, and white in the face.
“Look, keep this safe,” Will shoved the walkman in his hands, “And don’t do that again.”
He looked over his shoulder- the demogorgon looked around, dazed and screeching.
“I’m sorry,” Mike whispered.
“We’ll deal with that later. Stay here, I’ll come back for you, okay?”
“Okay.”
Will leaped off the building. He picked up a baseball bat some kid had left behind in the park, and flew over.
“Hey demogorgon! Eat this!” He whacked the thing, and it splintered, but so did the demogorgon. It fell backwards, and to Will’s absolute surprise, the earth swallowed it up.
“What.”
Will swung back up to the rooftop, where Mike still stood, camera firmly in hand, walkman’s headphones around his neck, walkman on his hip.
“Spiderman, I am so sorry–”
Will held up his hand, and Mike stilled.
“It’s okay. No one got hurt as far as I’m aware, so you got lucky. But why are you so intent on following me?”
“I just happened to be here! I swear!”
Shit, yeah , Will wanted to kick himself, Mike had a shift at the diner roundabout this time. (‘They pay us nothing, which ethically or morally, I should probably be opposed to, but on the other hand, you know, I’m also getting paid , dude!’)
“Alright. I trust you…” he sighed heavily, “Best not be late for whatever you’re going to, right?”
Mike nodded, still a little white faced.
“I’ll swing you to where you need to go?”
“Oh, god no that sounds…”
“It’s quicker,” Will smiled, “Where?”
“Uh… by the Grand Army Plaza.”
“I’ll take you. Hold on tight,” Will picked him up, and leaped off the building.
Mike screamed, clutching onto him for dear life.
Mike’s hair- an overgrown mullet- kept flying into Will’s field of vision.
“Ha! Not used to long hair!” He laughed over the noise, “Always tucked away in the mask.”
“You have long hair?”
“Don’t ask, pretty boy.”
They landed just by the Grand Army Plaza, as promised.
Mike was trying to catch his breath, holding onto the wall for support.
“Sweet christ…” he whispered, taking the walkman headphones off around his neck, and handed the walkman back.
“Thanks for taking care of it,” Will said.
“Yeah, ‘course… anytime.”
“Hey, Mike?”
“Yeah?” Mike looked up at him with big eyes.
Will hesitated, and thought better of it, instead saying, “Till next time. Don’t make it too soon, yeah?”
“Yeah. Thanks Spiderman.”
Mike stared at him for a moment, and in a brash moment of self discovery, Mike leaned in and kissed Will’s masked cheek.
Will blinked, smiling slightly, confused out of his mind. Will stood there for a second longer before asking, “You know I’m a guy, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Just checking.” Another pause, “Ciao.”
“Bye,” Mike said, mesmerised.
“Don’t be late!” Will called, swinging away.
“Shit!” Mike took off in the other direction.
At lunch the next day:
“Surely,” Max declared.
Will and El sat down by them.
“What up?” El asked Max.
“Look,” Max showed her a photo on her little display. She had a state of the art flip phone- it could take photos.
El’s eyes widened comically.
“It’s Spiderman!” Mike smiled widely. “It looks like he lives there.”
“Yeah, with a girl,” Max said.
Lucas added, “You think it’s his girlfriend?”
“You can’t see anything,” Will frowned. It was clearly of El yelling something at Will as he jumped out of their bedroom window, onto the fire escape, but you couldn’t see that in the shitty, lowlight photo at all. Only that the girl had dark hair to her shoulders. It was not only a very popular haircut, but it also looked a whole lot darker in the photo.
“That fire escape could be anywhere,” Max said, “There’s a million just like it all over New York.”
“Yeah, it looks just like ours,” Will said, “And somehow I doubt that Spiderman has a girlfriend.”
“Why?” Mike asked him, genuinely curious.
“Just doesn’t seem like the type of guy.”
“I think he does,” Dustin said, “He’s cool as hell. This morning in the papers there was a picture of Spiderman swinging with a girl.”
Will frowned. The only person he’d swung with was Mike. His eyes widened as he realised Mike was the girl.
“What!? No way! I have to see it!” Mike jumped up.
“I think I took it…” Dustin reached in his backpack and pulled out a crushed newspaper. “Yeah, look there! ‘Spiderman caught swinging through New York City with female companion. Who could this pretty lady be? ’”
Max and Mike looked at it at the same time, and burst out laughing.
“That’s me!” Mike cried out laughing.
“You look terrified!” Max bawled.
Suddenly Mike’s face was very straight, “I wasn’t.”
You totally were , Will wanted to say.
“Holy shit, dude!” Dustin said, “You swung with Spiderman?!”
“Yeah,” Mike smiled like a 12 year old girl admitting to her friends she’d spoken to her crush for the first time.
“How was it!? How was he?”
“He’s super cool! He was all, ‘eat this!’ and I got the coolest photo of him. You’ll have to come over after school to see.”
“Totally!” They all agreed.
The photo was, in fact, pretty cool. Will looked amazing in it- older, and cooler, and more experienced than he really was.
“I thought you said Spiderman had told you not to tell anyone,” Will smirked.
Mike blushed a bit, “Well– I thought– Since the story’s out anyway…”
“Messing with you,” Will nudged him gently.
“Wait,” Dustin said, “Will knew?!”
“W-well, he just pried it out of me!”
“He said it by accident,” Will amended.
“Will!” Mike looked at him as if he was genuinely hurt.
Will had been getting a bit more ballsy lately. He supposed zipping around as Spiderman did something to him as… well, just Will as well. He was actually able to participate in gym class now, not feeling so horrendously useless.
He shared gym class with Lucas, who typically tried to get him on his team, eventually, even if the other guys groaned at him doing it. But now, he wasn’t as despised. He could keep up, even if he felt it wasn’t worth the effort at all.
“Anyway you guys wanna watch a movie?” Lucas asked.
“Ooh! Addams Family Values!” El declared.
And so, they watched Addams Family Values in the Wheelers' living room. It was a lot bigger than the Byers/Hopper living room; everyone could fit, though Will and El sat on the floor in front instead.
Halfway through, Nancy and Jonathan walked in.
“Mike, is mom home?!” Nancy yelled.
“No!” Mike called, not taking his attention from the movie.
“We’re just gonna take some cutlery. We’ll bring it back tomorrow, somewhere.”
“Okay, I’ll let her know.”
“Ooh, Addams Family Values!”
Jonathan ended up watching with them for a while, as Nancy grabbed all the cutlery.
“Let’s go Jonathan!”
“Yep, okay bye guys.”
“Bye!” They all chorused, still watching.
Jonathan and Nancy lived in an apartment nearby, where they went to college together. Sometimes, Will wondered how they survived… And why did they need that much cutlery?
At one point Max went off to go skating, taking El with her. Lucas and Dustin both went their separate ways after a game of chess went awry, and by then it was sundown.
Karen walked in on them watching Back to the Future (again), asking, “Will, do you want to eat dinner with us tonight as well?”
“Oh, yes please Mrs Wheeler, thank you.”
“Are you staying the night as well?”
Will looked over at Mike, “Can I?”
“Yeah!”
“Yes please, Mrs Wheeler.”
“Just call your mom to make sure it’s okay.”
“Yes, Mrs Wheeler,” he got up to the phone on the wall, “Hi, uh mom? Oh hi El. Can you tell mom I’m staying at Mike’s?” Will went a little red, “No, not like that– no! We’re not- okay, I’m hanging up. B-! BYE.”
“What was that about?”
Will threw himself onto the sofa, “Nothing. El’s being stupid.”
“Your hair looks nice,” Mike said suddenly.
“Wh… huh?”
“Sorry,” Mike shook his head, “I’m being stupid now too.”
“What about my hair?”
“It- it’s just– Ugh, I’m stumbling… It looks nice when it's a bit shaggier.”
“You think?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I’ll keep it this way.”
“I kinda wanna watch Top Gun,” Mike told Will after Back to the Future ended, but realised Will was knocked out.
Mike sighed and let his head drop. He supposed it was a school night…
“Will, wake up.”
Will didn’t wake, for once. He’d been sleeping deeper since El and Will had moved in together as well, though Mike supposed it'd been a long time since that happened too. Mike sighed, and stood.
He picked Will up- one arm under his knees, and one on his upper back. Will’s head lolled against his chest.
Mike carried Will into the hallway, where he ran into Holly.
Holly looked up at them, hand on the doorknob to the bathroom. “Are you gay as well?”
“Can you open my door for me please.”
Holly did, and watched as Mike laid Will down on Mike’s double bed.
“Are you?” She asked again.
“No, Hols. Why are you up anyway? It’s way past your bedtime.”
“I needed to pee.”
“Alright,” Mike laughed, “you go do that. Want me to put you to bed?”
“No thanks, I can manage.”
“Alright. Goodnight Holly.”
“Night Mike.”
Mike returned his attention to Will.
“Hey, Will.”
“Hm?”
“Want to borrow some of my clothes for pyjamas?”
“Huh?”
“Pyjamas.”
“No. Don't wanna."
Mike handed him an old Star Wars shirt, and turned away when Will started changing mindlessly. “Night Will.”
“Night Mike.”
“Will. Will, wake up.”
Will opened his eyes. He was uncomfortable, scared, and his heart was racing. It was pitch black in the room, but he could vaguely make out the outline of Mike leaning over him.
Will breathed out heavily– he had his whole body taut.
“You were having a nightmare.”
Will nodded, bringing his hands to cover his face. “I’m sorry I woke you.”
“It’s okay… I just didn’t realise how bad they were.”
Will tried controlling his breathing, the images still burned into his retinas. “It’ll be fine. It’s fine. This one’s a really light one, actually.”
“It is? You look…”
Mike hesitated, and laid himself down next to Will again, staring at him.
“Once,” Will said, “I was shaking really bad. I got up, because I didn’t know what else to do; I was panicking so badly. It was like I was trying to walk away from something- I s’pose it was nervous energy, but I just paced for a bit, until I woke Jonathan by accident, ‘cause he was sleeping on the sofa.”
“Oh yeah, I remember, after the fight with Nance she took over my bedroom, and I had to sleep on the sofa.”
“Haha, yeah,” Will smiled, which made Mike feel a bit dizzy. “Jonathan stayed with me, and he held my hands in this really weird way… but it made me feel so calm.”
“Show me.”
“Like this,” Will reached out under the covers, and held Mike’s hands in his tightly.
Mike looked up, understandingly. Mike swapped their hands around, and Will smiled tiredly. Will let his eyes fall shut slowly, as he leaned further into Mike.
“Night Will,” Mike whispered, just before Will lost consciousness.
Mike, as of late, had been spending a lot more time outside. Everyone found it suspicious, but Will knew why immediately.
He was hoping to run into Spiderman again.
One day, after a particularly shitty teacher-related incident, Will decided to humour him.
“Hi,” Spiderman dropped down by him.
Mike looked to his side, with big eyes, staring at him. “Hi Spiderman.”
“How’s it going?”
“Yeah, uh… shit day,” he turned to his hands in his lap.
“Oh. I’m sorry. Want me to leave…?”
“No! I mean– no, that’s okay. I’d like some company. Uh, I’m assuming you would too?”
Will shrugged, “Your company isn’t too bad. How’d you even get up here?”
Mike’s legs dangled over the edge of a rooftop.
“Climbed.”
“Huh, impressive.”
“Thank you.”
Will laughed, “Hey, want something that’ll definitely brighten your day?”
“What…?”
“Stay here, I’ll be back in five minutes, promise.”
“Okay?” Mike laughed.
“Right back!” Will swung away, and returned two minutes later with churros. “Dunno if you’re a churro-typa guy, actually, I’m just realising this was maybe not a smart idea, but uh… bon appetit!”
Mike laughed, and tried some. “Oh, I like them. Oh, these are good!”
“Yeah, it’s some Spanish lady by Carnegie Hall, of all places. But I tried ‘em once, and they're amazing.”
“They are. Thanks, man,” Mike smiled up at him, lovestruck.
Will shrugged easily, as if he was the most charismatic guy in the universe, “Friendly neighbourhood Spiderman, right? Here to listen to your problems,” he nudged him.
Mike looked down at the cars passing by. “Uh, I… spoke out of turn at school. That’s all. But my teacher got really mad at me. He stopped me after class, and made me stay behind, and… made it a way bigger deal than it was. The thing is… I really liked him. I looked up to him, and now I’ve gotten such a reality check. And I keep saying to myself, ‘whatever! It’s just some stupid teacher! I don’t care, whatever!’ But…”
“You really do care about his opinion of you,” Will guessed.
“Yeah. I do,” his voice broke. He breathed in heavily, and looked away, “And I… ugh, I lashed out at a friend.” (Lucas) “And I scratched my favourite CD,” (A Rolling Stones compilation CD), he put his head in his hands.
Will nudged him, and Mike looked over. Will gestured, and Mike dropped his head into his lap, one leg propped up, and the other dangling over the side of the building.
“It’s just not a good day,” Mike’s voice warbled.
Will hesitantly started playing with Mike’s hair, “They can’t all be bangers.”
Mike laughed, “That’s funny. Didn’t know that that was such a popular saying. I honestly thought that Will had come up with it.”
“Is Will your boyfriend?” He found himself asking.
“No! No, god no, I don’t like him that way,” he said a little too honestly. “He’s a childhood friend of mine. He’s cute, but that’s kind of the thing. He’s too cute, you know? He’s like a little brother to me sometimes.”
“Ah,” Will said, keeping his voice steady.
“But I think he’s starting to pick up on the fact that I’m kind of… starting to swing the other way. And he’s trying to be supportive, if I ever come out to him.”
“That’s nice?” Will asked, growing very confused.
“Yeah, it is. I don’t know how he keeps picking up on things like that though. It’s almost creepy sometimes… Anyway, uh… I s’pose I should ask how your day went.”
“Oh. Yeah, no, uneventful,” he inhaled, trying to get himself back into Spiderman, instead of sad, cute ‘little brother’ Will. “Fun now that I’m with you. Even if you have had a shit day.”
“No monster to beat up yet?”
“Not yet.”
Mike smiled inwardly.
“What are you smiling about?”
“Nothing. Just that… now, you’re the one who sought me out. Haha.”
“I guess I did,” Will smirked.
“You’re sure you can’t take the mask off for me?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Are you… ugly? I wouldn’t mind, I promise.”
“I trust that, but I’m not sure if I’m ugly. I think my face is… lovable.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means if you know me, you might find a way to love it.”
“That sounds like a pretty miserable way of saying it.”
Will shrugged, “I dunno. It’s not too bad. Not everyone gets to be beautiful like you.”
“Like me?”
“Well, aren’t you?”
“No one’s ever told me before. I don’t think so.”
“Oh. Well, maybe your face is loveable then too.”
Mike smiled, “That’s gotta be one of the most original compliments I’ve ever been given.”
“Glad to be the one to give it.”
“Are you sure you can’t show me your face? Just quickly?”
“No, Mike. It’s best you don’t know what I look like. Plus, personally… I think I’d rather just have you know me as Spiderman.”
“Is your name generic?”
Will laughed, “Yes, but I’d still you just… call me Spiderman. I’m not all that impressive, or cool, or… interesting when I’m just me. As Spiderman I can kick ass, dude!”
Mike laughed, brushing his dried cheeks.
“I mean, I’m– I’ve got power ! When I’m just me, I’m… just me.”
“I’d love to meet just you.”
“I like it this way. And it’s safer. So for now… Spiderman it's gonna stay. Okay?”
“Okay. For now.”
Will laughed, “You’re not gonna give that up, huh?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
In reality… Will adored how in love Mike was starting to be with Spiderman. How Mike looked at him, and talked about him. And suddenly, he knew that Mike could never love Will. So Spiderman it was going to stay. His nails dug into the back of his own hands. He was going to hold on.
As the peak of summer rolled around, they laid on a big blanket in Central Park, lazing in the sun mostly. Max and Lucas were off skating, so it was Dustin, Mike, Will and El. Dustin was reading, with his back against the trunk of a big tree. Will and El chatted lightly about the class they shared– art, as Will sketched something.
Mike, naturally, was thinking of Spiderman, while flicking through the photos he’d taken of Spiderman on his camera.
Will rambled lightly, “I’m thinking of this… DnD campaign that’s set in this fantasy realm with a specific genre of abstract nothing-makes-sense sort of idea. Alice in Wonderland, but a different feeling. And this is kind of how I imagine it to look.”
“I like it,” El said, “Could use more mythical creatures.”
“You’re right!” Will sat up, and started adding all kinds.
“I wanna write another campaign,” Mike told them.
“Right, with Spiderman in it I bet?” Dustin said good-naturedly.
“Shut up,” Mike smiled, “No, not with Spiderman in it. If you give me some of your stuff, I can write for it.”
“Sure, I’d like that,” Will smiled. “Here are my initial sketches.”
“Holy shit, Will, these are amazing.”
And Will’s heart broke, because suddenly he knew he was saying that in the same way he might to Holly, instead of to Spiderman.
“I totally see where you’re going. I’ll write something, and I’ll show you at lunch on Monday, cool?”
“Sure.”
“Can I keep the sketches?”
“Couldn’t you take a picture with your camera?”
“...Smart. I’ll do that.”
“Hey MJ, catch this!” Max called.
Mike caught the ball just in time before it hit Will straight in the face, but the camera fell from his hands.
Will intercepted the camera before it would've cracked open– barely.
“Woah, quick reflexes Will!” Dustin said, as Mike started screaming at Max and Lucas for almost breaking his camera.
“Chill, MJ,” Max’s cute nickname for Michael James Wheeler, that the rest of the gang had started accidentally picking up. “I’m surprised you caught that. I was aiming for Mike, sorry Will.”
“All good,” Will smiled politely, still a bit shaken to have actively used his spidey-sense in front of everyone.
Max dropped down by El and swung an arm around her shoulder, “Easy, Big Mike, you’re alright.”
“If my camera broke I would’ve made you pay for it!” Mike sat back down at Will’s side.
“Uh huh, so Lucas, tell ‘em what you did!”
“I did the coolest rail slide of my life! You should’ve seen the guys there!”
Will looked on happily as he thought about how Mike and Max shared their chem class. He knew they sat next to each other (all of them did- any class you share is one less class destined for desperate loneliness) but he did wonder how.
Two weeks later, the campaign had been planned, and the six of them were sat in Dustin’s room, with the window open.
All in all, it was a fun campaign- if a bit hard to get used to. But just when Max and Mike started arguing about how much a roll of 2 truly could get you, El got an alert on her phone.
“Ah, demogorgon spotting,” she said to Will- who by now kept his suit almost permanently in his backpack.
Mike chirped up, “Really?! I wanna see if I can get a good picture!” He stood, looking around for his camera.
“But the game!”
“Screw the game!” Mike dashed out the window, and ran down the fire escape.
Dustin and Lucas laughed, as Max hurled curse words towards him.
They all went quiet when Will stood up, grabbed his backpack, and walked out. He looked downright miserable. Mike had done this to him before- a long time ago.
Will changed into his suit, and dropped his backpack off at home.
He zipped over, and got there before Mike had. Sure enough– a demogorgon. This time, however, he was angry. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or how the campaign he’d seen Mike work so hard on go out the window within seconds, or maybe it was just about how he wished, and longed for Mike to love Will instead of Spiderman, but he had the energy to kill.
And kill he did. He massacred it.
Mike stared on- at first he thought it was hot as shit. But…
Eventually, the earth swallowed the carcass up, never to return again, and Will slumped down in on himself.
“Spiderman!” Mike called, and ran over.
Mike crashed on his knees by him. He wasn’t responding. His suit had scratched open at his hip. Spiderman had pale skin…
Mike panicked, and pressed his ear to his chest. After a moment of pure fear, he heard a shallow beating.
He scooped Spiderman up, with some trouble, and carried him tirelessly to the diner where he worked nearby.
He kicked the backdoor open, and one of the three people in the kitchen was a girl he recognised.
“Mike, jesus!” She said, immediately dropping everything to help him out.
He crashed in the corner of the kitchen, protecting Spiderman’s head.
“We gotta take his mask off,” Lacie– the girl, said.
“We can’t.”
“You gotta, he can’t breathe!”
“I… Okay, I’m taking him into the staff bathroom. Can I have your handkerchief?”
“It’s a bandana!” She yelled- as she had said many times before, but handed it to him anyway, “I’ll get the first aid kit.”
“Thanks Lace.”
Mike picked Spiderman back up– arms crying out in exhaustion already, and sat him down on the cold floor of the staff bathroom. Lacie dropped the first aid kit at his feet, and shut the door.
Mike put the bandana over his eyes, so he could barely see the outline of what was happening before him, and took the mask off.
Spiderman shot awake with a gasp.
“Don’t–!”
“I can’t see! See? I promise!”
Will sat himself up against the wall, grasping at his heart.
“I got a first aid kit for you,” Mike said, vaguely looking forward.
“Where are we?”
“In the staff bathroom of Dolly’s Diner on 59th Street. I work here.”
Will regained his breath, “Okay. Okay, okay… uh,” he looked through the first aid kit, and started cleaning off blood and the scratches, patching himself up.
“Ugh, I ripped the suit… She’s gonna be pissed.”
“Who?” Mike asked.
“Uhm. My friend. She made it with me. I designed it, but she’s the true mastermind. Science-wise.”
“What’s her name?”
“I shouldn’t tell you…”
He saw Mike sag down, sad.
Will sighed, “Jane. Her name’s Jane.” El’s given name, apparently. According to Hopper, and her passport.
“Is she the only one who knows your true identity?”
“Mhm. The one and only. She knows the ins and outs of my powers, my suit, my… everything, really.”
“Do you love her?”
“Yeah, I do. We haven’t known each other for too long, but… yeah. She’s technically the one to have given me my powers.”
“What? Really?”
“Yeah. That’s a long story though.”
“Tell me.”
Will laughed, placing another plaster over a cut, “Okay… Well, on the day we moved in together, we were messing around. You see, she kind of has powers too, but for a while now they’ve been fading. And we were trying it out, seeing what we could do with it. So, we’d just moved in together, and in our bedroom there was an old cup that had had honey tea in it, and I’d asked her to make it float. And she did, but with a lot of effort. She used to be able to make entire trucks fly, and now… but, uh… turns out, there was a bug in there. And when it crawled out later, when we weren’t paying attention, it bit me.”
“Really? That’s how you got your powers?”
“Mhm. Magic spider.”
When he’d first felt the powers kick in in the morning, he’d ripped the doorknob off the bathroom door, and started crying. Then he ate a ridiculous amount of food, including things that probably weren’t edible anymore, and had come to the conclusion he had a crush on Mike after Mike fell off his skateboard and Will caught him.
“How’d Jane get her powers then?”
Will lifted up his index, and pressed it against Mike’s mouth. “Secret.”
Mike smiled tentatively.
“You know,” Will continued, “it feels so weird to have my suit on but not the mask. Usually, the moment I take the mask off I feel so… lame. Like a spell wearing off.”
“I somehow doubt that you’re so lame in person.”
“Maybe. You wouldn’t know.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t,” Mike smiled, leaning in.
“Hey Mike.”
“Hm…?”
Will abandoned that train of through, and quickly switched to his emergency backup: “What kind of music do you listen to?”
“Whatever Will makes me listen to.”
“Which is?”
“Bowie.”
“Ooh, good music then.”
Mike grinned, placing an arm on Will’s upper arm. The scaly, rubbery suit felt nice underneath his fingertips.
“Favourite song?” Will asked.
“Rebel Rebel. Yours?”
“As the World Falls Down from the 1986 Labyrinth Original Soundtrack.”
Mike laughed, “What?”
“Technically a Bowie song.”
“C’mon, actual answer.”
“That was my actual answer! But if you make me choose, Oh! You Pretty Things from 1971’s Hunky Dory.”
“You memorise the years they come out?”
“Of course,” Will rolled his eyes playfully.
Mike smiled, leaning in closer, “Dork.”
“Yours truly.”
Mike grabbed his face, and kissed him fully. Even though Will kissed back, he regretted it immediately. It still felt electric though.
When Mike pulled away he was out of breath.
Will didn’t say a word. He put the mask back on, reached down and ran a hand over Mike’s jaw, and pulled the bandana off.
“Until next time, Mike.”
“Until then…”
Surprisingly, Mike didn’t say anything about the kiss to anyone. In fact, he was radio silent on all things Spiderman– a much needed (and wanted) change after about 3 months straight of pure ‘Spiderman!! Spiderman!!!’
Since Spiderman had defeated the demogorgon there wasn’t much need for him for a while, and Mike didn’t go out to find him.
“So, did Spiderman dump you or something?” Was Max’s way of dealing with that.
“What? No! We- no! He… just… There hasn’t been much to say, is all!”
Dustin, Lucas and Max all lost it laughing wildly.
“He got dumped!”
“We were never dating! It’s just… he has a girlfriend. Jane.”
Will blinked, asking, “He does?!”
“You owe me 20 Byers!” Dustin bellowed.
“We agreed on 10!”
“Interest! The economy’s crashing!”
“Bull, we said 10!”
“That must be the girl from the picture,” Lucas said.
“He said they live together,” Mike said, somewhat miserable. “And they share a bedroom.”
“Wow… imagine dating Spiderman,” Lucas said, “What a power couple.”
“Must be good in bed too,” Max punched Mike, “You almost knew, but you fumbled!” She kept punching him, and he punched back.
Dustin nudged Lucas. Lucas followed his gaze, as Will slumped back a bit, staring heartsick at Mike. They exchanged a sympathetic glance, but didn’t do anything about it.
They had a sleepover. Everyone stayed over at Dustin’s house- Max and El on the sofa in his room, Mike and Will on the bed, and Lucas and Dustin on sleeping bags on the floor of the bedroom. Dustin felt cool every time he got to use a sleeping bag (so did Lucas) and Mike and Will always slept next to each other.
The fact that they all fit in there was part miracle, and part ‘being perfectly okay with being pressed up against each other’.
Will woke at around 1 AM, prime NYC time for the locals.
He stared at the ceiling, breathing rapidly.
He didn’t always wake up, but he did almost always remember it.
When after 10 minutes he still didn’t fall back asleep, Will sat up, drank some of Mike’s water on the nightstand, got up, stepping over everyone carefully, and pushed the window open.
A cool summer breeze blew in, and he climbed out onto the fire escape. He sat, and waited… He let himself cool off.
He wondered if… now that Spiderman was dead to Mike- or at least, the concept was- that Mike would finally look his way.
He hated himself for even thinking it. He hated himself for hoping it, for praying, and screaming and crying for it. Tears welled in his eyes, as an amalgamation of all the horrid thoughts came to the forefront of his mind.
He was nothing but a sad, ‘cute’ but harmless, pathetic little brother who doesn’t know what he’s doing. A hopeless romantic who’s never even kissed a girl, and wore… this. Old flannels from Jonathan that weren’t even cool when Jonathan wore them. Listened to weird music from Jonathan that wasn’t even cool when Jonathan listened to them. He couldn’t ever be normal, could he? God forbid he’d ever like something mainstream. First Bowie, then… boys.
He could put down the Spiderman suit now. He’d murdered the demogorgon in cold blood. Was that who he was now too? A murderer?
He remembered how he hacked and slashed. He’d liked it somehow. Or maybe, less 'liked' and more felt something when he did it. Something, anything.
He’d done nothing but play games with Mike too. Throw him around, as if there was ever any hope. He felt an awful dread rising. A nauseating ick settled like a falling fog– like stones in his stomach.
Somehow, the revelation he’d been a shit person, on top of a shit friend was the worst of it all. He was awful. He was an awful person.
Or was he being dramatic?
Oh, Jesus Christ. He couldn’t even be mad at himself without doubting it.
He wanted to hit himself. Hurt himself.
And maybe he would’ve too, if there wasn’t a familiar chime from inside.
El’s phone.
A new monster. A disgusting, fleshy monster, somewhat in the form of a spider, if you squint: and as it would later be called, the Spider Monster.
Will zipped through the skyline. And there it was. It’d destroyed a lot already, and it looked like it was going to take out more.
It took Will about an hour to figure out it was somehow… controlled by a person inside. Not quite alive anymore, but not wholly dead either. He cut it out, caught the human remains, and laid it down as the flesh monster above screeched and cried out.
“Hello!? Are you okay!?”
The person had died, Will saw immediately. The person had been dead for a while.
Will sat down by them. Tired, exhausted, and not ready to go home.
He sat, and cried for a bit. Then he shut their eyes, just before the police flashlights appeared, and zipped away.
In the morning Will was, for once, the last person to stay asleep.
“Wow, what’s happened to the world,” Max said, “Will? A full night’s sleep?”
“Let’s let him sleep. God knows he needs it,” Dustin said.
“Hm,” Lucas and El nodded.
Will imagined waking up in Mike’s arms… He could hear Mike’s quiet laugh, as Will played with his hair. Will laid on his side, his thigh in between Mike’s legs. The electric feeling of holding some close and liking it.
He’d been doing this a lot.
Just pure fantasy: set loose in his head.
He kind of wished he could draw it, sketch it out… but if someone ever found those drawings he’d probably just drink half a bottle of iodine and call it a day.
He imagined kissing Mike’s forehead just as Mike (real) opened the door.
“Hey, Will? You awake?”
Will rolled over, “Yeah.”
“You want breakfast?”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, you okay?” Mike shut the door and sat down by him.
“Yeah.”
“You don’t sound it,” Mike felt his forehead. “Didn’t you sleep well?”
“No. I slept awful. I heard the Spiderman battle the whole night through.”
“Spiderman? I thought he was…”
“Back. Big… spider monster or something. Thought you of all people would know by now,” Will smirked sadly.
“No. I didn’t… I was asleep for the whole thing. You could’ve woke me up. Then you wouldn’t have been so miserable.”
“It’s okay. Can’t keep bothering you for the rest of our lives, you know?”
“Well not with that attitude.”
Will smiled, but it faded, “Just having a rough… week. I’ll be fine soon enough.”
“Okay. I’m… here for you though. Meanwhile. I know I’ve been kind of spotty, with the whole Spiderman thing.”
“Yeah, no I get it. He’s cool.”
“He’s so cool. But you're cooler.”
“Do you think you could still love him if you knew who was under the mask?”
Mike suddenly looked at him. “Love?”
“Don’t you?”
Mike hesitated. “I… I don’t– I’m not sure. I don’t think I do.”
“Okay Mike,” Will sat up, and held his head. “I’m… I think I’ll go to the bathroom and shower first, yeah?”
“Yeah. Want me to ask Dustin for a towel?”
“Thanks, yeah.”
“Okay.”
Just after Will showered, he left.
Mike ran into Spiderman in the evening.
“Hi,” Mike smiled, unsure, slipping his headphones off his head.
“Oh. You again,” Will smiled.
“Mind if I join you?”
“But of course.”
Mike sat down on the balcony railing. “Do you often hang upside down?”
“It’s been a recent development. To see life from a new perspective. And also, apparently I don’t get headrush.”
Mike smiled.
“Anyway, what were you listening to?”
Mike held his MP3 player in his hand, “Song 2 by Blur.”
“Just that one song?”
“Yeah. On repeat.”
Will chuckled, “Fair enough.” Why couldn't Will like normal, recent bands?
Mike messed with his fingers, “It’s nice seeing you again.”
“Yeah. Turns out it won’t be the last time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Got one last villain to fight.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Mind Flayer. And probably? He’s gonna kick my ass.”
“I believe in you.”
“Lovely sentiment, but I’m really just… a kid, man. I’m not even legally an adult yet, much a person with a fully developed brain. How on earth am I gonna…?”
“You’re not an adult?”
“Nah. Not legally. I’m 17.”
“So am I.”
“I figured. How old did you think I was?”
“21, 25.”
“And you kissed me!?”
“You said you lived with your girlfriend in your own apartment!”
“Jane’s my sister! We share a goddamn bunk bed, moron!”
But Mike smiled like a monkey on nitrous oxide. “You’re single?”
“That’s what you’re taking away from this?!”
They didn’t have time to continue that train of thought. A loud crumbling made a presence known.
The Mind Flayer had reared its ugly head.
“What?” Mike asked senselessly.
“Shit. I… thought I’d have more time. I didn’t say goodbye to Jane.”
“Goodbye!?”
“In case I don’t… you know,” Will lowered himself down, starting to panic. “Mike- Mike, can you give Jane Hopper this message if I don’t–”
“You will, though, won’t you!?”
“Mike ! Give Jane Hopper this message!” He enunciated her legal name loudly, “‘I love you, and I miss you, and I’ll never forget you. Tell everyone everything.’ That’s my message. You got that?”
“Yes.”
“Now run. Get to safety! Run!”
So. Spiderman’s last name was probably Hopper. He wondered if he and Will and El’s dad were related. His heart rabbitted as he ran inside, just like everyone else.
The fight itself was slow, and tedious, and horrifying for Mike to watch.
Max stood by him, and held his hand silently. She worked at the local skate shop Mike had run inside of. The whole world held its breath, watching.
He was 17, like him. And had a sister, probably a twin, telling from the photo. And they shared a bedroom.
And… moved into a new apartment about a year ago together, when Spiderman first started swinging around.
“Will?” He whispered to himself.
“Will’s probably somewhere safe,” Max said definitely, but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself too. “With El.”
“No, he wasn’t with El. Will’s been gone the whole day. He wasn’t with El, I texted her.”
“Then…?”
“She thought he was wandering around alone. He’d been doing that a lot lately. He could be… hurt, Max, he could–”
“We can’t do anything about that though, Mike. We’ll search for him the moment the battle ends, not now!”
“But–”
“Mike! Get it together!”
Mike headed for the door, “I’ve gotta find him, Max!”
“Michael you moron!”
“Maxine!” He stuck his tongue out, and darted out the door.
He was starting to doubt that his idea of Spider-Will was real– I mean, come on! Be reasonable! It was Will! Then again... it was Will.
He ran to the battlefield. Spiderman had run out of buildings to swing from, and was desperately trying to pull himself up on the Mind Flayer’s vague body to try and get somewhere.
But, out of nowhere, another Spider Person appeared. Instead of Spiderman’s dark blue and gold suit, she wore a white and magenta suit. It was clearly more of a demo-suit, rather than Spiderman’s perfected one, but they worked together.
They regrouped and landed next to each other, leaning on each other. They spoke hurriedly to each other, just before the Mind Flayer almost crushed them. The white and pink spider person put an arm around Spiderman, and swung away desperately.
Mike ran over to where they landed, and Spiderman saw him.
“You moron!” Spiderman screamed, “I said get inside!”
“I know, okay!? But I don’t care! I’m looking for Will! I don’t know where he is!”
“I know where he is! I brought him to safety, he’s fine!”
Mike stumbled. His hunch had been wrong, like he thought.
“Jane, I need you to get material, okay?”
“But–”
“I’ll keep it occupied. Take Mike away.”
“No!” Mike yelled, “I can help!”
“You’ll just die, Mike. Don’t be stupid! You’re holding us back!”
“Mike,” Jane tried.
“No!”
Jane put a surprisingly strong arm around him, and took off.
Mike had never felt more like a toddler in time out. He felt stupid, and small, and dejected, and most importantly: he’d disappointed Spiderman.
Spiderman and Spider-Jane were definitely twins. They were the same height, and spoke to each other in the way twins do. Will and El spoke to each other in that way anyway.
Mike would be lying if he said that he was never jealous of them.
They were joined at the hip, and it didn’t help that they moved in together just after Mike and El broke up. That was a strange blip, the whole gang agreed, and generally everybody just tried to forget it.
And El started to know more about Will than Mike did. And Will and Mike had known each other since, what, kindergarten?
And just because they sleep in the same room they get to share clothes, know everything about each other’s music tastes, and suddenly know everything about each other’s most obscure habits?
Will stole El from Mike, but what was much, much worse, is that El stole Will from Mike too.
He crossed his arms over his updrawn knees, and laid his head down into it.
Everyone gasped, about 5 minutes of feeling sorry for himself later, and he looked up. The Mind Flayer had knocked Spider-Jane out, and had Spiderman pinned to the ground in a massive crater in central park.
Mike sat up, and walked to the balcony of the apartment he’d been dumped in. He looked down. He could probably make it. Yeah, he could make it.
Yeah…
He could make it.
He made it– barely. Somewhat. A pain shot up his ankles, but he was fine.
He took off towards the crater. He ran past a baseball park, picked up a baseball bat, and took a trash can lid.
“HEY! Spider creep!”
The Mind Flayer didn’t even budge.
Mike kneeled by Jane, nudging her.
“Hey, Jane, c’mon. Wake up, man.”
Jane shot awake– uncannily in the same way he knew only El to do.
She sighed, and sat up, pressing into her side.
“You okay?”
“Broken rib.”
“Can I help?”
“Did you bring a first aid kit?”
“No.”
“Dumbass,” she smiled, and a warm feeling spread through him. “Okay. Okay, W– uh, Spiderman’s linked to the Mind Flayer. So am I, but my link got severed. That’s why my powers started depleting. We need to kill the Mind Flayer with our powers… Somehow.”
“Where’d it come from?”
“The gate it’s standing above. The crater.”
“How do we get it back in there?”
“No clue. Could you get Spiderman out of there?”
“Sure. Can you tell me his real name?”
“In your dreams, Mike.”
Mike clicked his tongue but took off towards the Mind Flayer.
“HEY!” He yelled, and threw the trash can lid against one of its big legs.
Surprisingly, this did… something?
Spiderman was able to slip away, and ran into Mike face first.
“Ow…” Spiderman slipped an arm around him and shot web fluid up into the Mind Flayer’s chin-situation.
They shot up, and Mike found himself hanging on for dear life, upside down for a second, before he blacked out. He fell into someone else’s arms on the ground.
“Keep him safe.”
“Will–”
“Jane,” Spiderman said.
Mike blinked, looking up foggily.
Spiderman sped off, wrapping more and more web fluid around the Mind Flayer’s head. It screeched, and Jane shot up, taking off to join him.
Together, he saw them pull the Mind Flayer into the crater.
Eventually, when Spiderman was drowsy, tired, and probably suffering a concussion, he stood strong before it, and reached out with one arm.
The Mind Flayer crushed in one, and eventually, condensed into one single person.
A thing almost resembling a human– though it had the same consistency of the Spider Monster, reused flesh.
The humanoid walked forward, and Spiderman fell to his knees.
It reached out, and pulled off the mask.
Mike gasped as shaggy, brown hair fell out from it. Spiderman fell from his side, making his face clear to Mike.
“WILL,” Mike cried, starting to sob loudly. Apparently it was just enough of a distraction for the humanoid.
Because that’s when Spider-Jane ran up from behind, and smacked him on the head with a wooden baseball bat.
The humanoid crashed, and she slammed it back into the crater, standing above it, and sealing it shut.
She ripped off her mask, and…
“El,” Mike whispered, scrambling up uncoordinated, and running towards them. “EL! WILL!”
Mike crashed by Will’s side.
Will turned his head towards him.
“Hey Mike. Long time no see, huh?”
Mike smiled, tears still falling from his eyes. He tackled Will, hugging him harshly.
“You’re okay!”
“Sorry for the show,” Will said, “We had to… uh, yeah…”
El nudged him, slipping her mask back on, “Will. People.”
He slipped his back on too. “Let’s go home.”
He put an arm around Mike, and took off towards home.
Will, did in fact, have a concussion, and El, did in fact, break a rib. Hopper was real up in arms about it– Mike ended up saying he’d been teaching them to skate, and they both fell in a mysterious double skateboarding incident. Hopper hadn’t been the biggest Mike Wheeler fan for a while, and this certainly wasn't going to fix that.
“I’m going to tell Max,” El said eventually, when they came back home. “I want her to know.”
“Okay,” Will kissed El’s head, “Go.”
“Yes,” El stood, and grabbed her backpack. The Spider-Jane suit was at the bottom of the bag, “I’m off.”
“Be safe.”
That left Mike and Will sitting on the fire escape, listening to the gentle birdsong and police sirens.
“Wait. WAIT–”
“WHAT?”
Mike dropped his head in his hands and groaned loudly.
“What?” Will laughed.
“I kissed you!?”
“Yeah,” Will laughed. “Hey Mike, can I tell you something?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve had a crush on you for two years now.”
There was a heavy silence.
Will continued, “When you fell in love with Spiderman, I thought there was a chance between us. Then you said you saw me as a brother.”
“That’s why you became so reckless…” Mike put his head back in his hands.
“Reckless?”
“Dude, you looked like you were ready to jump in front of a bus.”
Will considered it, but Mike interrupted.
“Jesus christ, man… You’re Spiderman. Ugh, that’s so embarrassing.”
Will laughed, “Embarrassing for both of us. I was all… ‘eat this!’, ugh…”
“I thought it was hot.”
“Yeah, well, low bar.”
“Excuse you!” Mike exclaimed, and Will giggled. “How dare you, Byers!” He leaned over, and started tickling him.
“I meant what I said! No surrendER-!” Will shot into another bout of giggles as Mike tickled his waist.
Just as Mike had almost had Will entirely pinned down, Will leaned up, and pressed a gentle kiss against his cheek.
Mike blushed brightly, and you could practically see the cogs turning in his head.
Eventually he said, “Neat.”
Will giggled, and brought his forearm over to cover his eyes.
Mike smiled, and gently guided Will’s arm away.
“Can I kiss you?”
“Obviously,” Will rolled his eyes.
It was kind of cool to have Spiderman as a boyfriend.
Zipping around was still one of the most terrifying things he’d ever done, and he’d worked at a New York Diner every Saturday evening. The FDA violations within that kitchen alone were enough to never make you want to eat out again.
Nevertheless, Max and Mike now knew about the Spiderpeople, and after that fateful battle, they never appeared in public again.
Apart from when Will took Mike swinging for one last time, on his birthday. Will felt his powers fading, and thought, why not.
The last photo of Spiderman to hit the papers was one of Will hanging upside down, as Mike stood looking rather smitten, sharing a kiss with Will’s mask pulled halfway up his face.