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They're in the middle of probably the most apocalyptic town in the world, and Mike Wheeler is conscious about how messed up his perception of problems is, because his principal concern should be last on the list after everything that's happening right now.
He can't understand it. Why does he feel like this every time he sees Will so close to Robin? But he supposes that that is not the worst part, the worst part is that he doesn't know when Will became so close to Robin.
Since they left the MAC-Z he has tried to ignore that strange feeling that blooms every time he notices Will looking at Robin, or when he talks about Robin, or when he talks WITH Robin, or… okay, something's terribly wrong.
He doesn't understand it. Robin is truly a great girl, she joined the group quickly and has helped a lot since she decoded the Russian code; but every time that he sees her interact with Will, a necessity to push her away from him and tell her that Will is his, appears inside of Mike. Especially when he hears them whisper to each other and then laugh. The awful part of hearing them laugh, is when the feeling of sadness invades him and makes him think that he used to be the one who made Will laugh like that, he was the one who was 24/7 at Will's side. But he can't get depressed about that, not now that they're searching for missing kids (one being his little sister), the other half of the group that is in the Upside Down, his parents are almost dead, and now Will has powers and has unlocked a new connection to the Hive mind. So he opted for ignoring them, it's easier because that way he cannot overthink anything.
—————
Once they left the MAC-Z and everyone returned to the WSQK station, Mike didn't spend a second away from Will. He just watched him freeze a demogorgon in the air and then with just one move, all his bones were broken – he never saw something that amazing. Even though it should've been gross to see, he cannot think about it as something disgusting. It was Will, who just saved his life… and Luca's and Robin's lives.
Well, maybe he was exaggerating when he said he didn't spend a second away from Will. Let's say he didn't spend a second away in a space far from Will. Because when the others came back, he obviously had to move so they could interrogate, congratulate, and thank him for saving their lives.
“Byers!! What you did was amazing, your mom told us that you were the one who saved our butts. For a moment I really thought that I was going to die, but then the only thing I saw was a demogorgon floating, and crack! All his bones were broken. That was fantastic!”
He was hearing Robin talk enthusiastically, making Will chuckle. «Amazing», he thought to himself, «Now Robin is the one who makes him smile just because nobody gave me even five minutes to talk alone with him!»
He was watching them from the seat where the radio is, observing how they were talking face to face, hearing Will say something like “It was nothing, I couldn't stand the idea of watching all of you die”, with his eyes shining while looking at her and his stretched cheeks from the smile that didn't leave his face.
He couldn't stand it anymore, he truly can't. He can't stand how the other person is the one who makes him smile that way he was sure was reserved only for him. He couldn't even understand why his eyes were so bright once he looked at her.
Suddenly, he hears someone calling him from behind, making him wake up from his trance.
“Wheeler! Earth to Mike?” It was Erica, who was already losing her patience.
“Uh? What's the matter?”
“What's happening to you? I've been trying for… five minutes to catch your attention.” She said after watching her clock and then giving him that disapproval look again.
“Uh, right… Hey Erica, do you know how old she is?” The girl looks at him confused. “Robin.” he sighed.
“I think she's the same age as your older sister, why?” Mike couldn't think of an excuse when his thoughts were interrupted once again by Erica. “I don't care. Give me your D&D pieces, I need them to think about a plan with Lucas and Will's mom.”
“Yeah, the little bag is inside my backpack. Take it out.”
“Thanks, it was all I needed.” Erica rolled her eyes and started walking towards Mike's backpack to grab the little bag.
Mike sighed again and his eyes immediately returned to Robin and Will, just in time to see how she was whispering something in his ear, making it turn red right away. Why does he care that much? He must've seen coming the possibility that Will would like girls taller than him – or of his same height–, and older than him.
Why wouldn't he tell him that he likes someone?
It was now or never that he could ask him and get rid of that anger inside him. Maybe that way he will stop hating Robin unconsciously.
“Hey Wheeler!” Fantastic, she just had to be the one talking to him. “Join the conversation, I have some theories about this little super-hero and Will said that you always have a lot of theories.”
“Uh, no, thank you, Robin. I pass.”
“Come on! I saw you looking the entire time, you haven't taken your eyes off of us, it's obvious that you wanna talk.”
Wow. So he was just incredibly obvious about how he can't take his gaze off the duo while he was thinking about their possible romance and how he may hate the anxious girl who's now talking to him. His eyes didn't know whether to look at Robin or Will, the first one looking at him expectantly, while the second one was looking at him with something Mike couldn't quite name, craving?
Now he really can't escape this, he can't think of any great excuse for why he was looking intensely at them this entire time. So he did the best thing he could do: he got up and rushed up the stairs, hearing confused voices calling for him from below.
He moved the shelf and went out to the main part of the station. He heard rushed steps on the stairs. He was determined to shut the shelf on the face of whoever was coming up the stairs, so he could avoid any questions. But once he saw who was coming after him, his arms didn't have the force to move the shelf back to its place.
“Mike? Mike, wait! What happened?” Will asked once he passed through the door and tried to catch his breath in front of him.
“Nothing happened, Will. I just needed some air.”
“You're lying. What happened? News from Nancy or Holly? Or of your parents?”
Now that Will was bringing that up, he noticed how selfish he was for making this little scene while much more important things than his feelings were happening right now, but he couldn't lose this chance.
“What? No, nothing of the sort.”
“Then? You're acting strange…”
“Well, maybe I wouldn't act strange if you told me that you liked someone!” His words escaped from his mouth before thinking about it, he felt scared but noticed how Will's face also reflected fear and confusion.
“W-What are you talking about, Mike?”
“Please, don't act like you don't know, Will. I thought we were best friends.”
“We are.” He answered right away.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Mike, I-I… can you- could you be clearer?”
“I think it's very clear, Will. You should've told me, I thought we were telling each other everything now that we fixed things, but you've been hiding something like this.” He knows he is not being fair, but he really needs to know. He needs Will to confess it so his mind can think correctly again. “You think I didn't notice the sparks in your eyes, or the way you laugh with every word?”
“What? No, Mike, I think you're wrong…”
Wrong?
“Don't try to deny it. Tell me the truth, Will! Because I can't stand not knowing while I was…” No, it can't be true. They're best friends, that's all. He can't ruin things again.
“While you what, Mike?” The named dared to look him in the eyes after hearing how carefully he called him, and noticed a different shine in those beautiful hazel eyes that he loved to observe. Maybe it was time to tell him, now nobody is insured that tomorrow they all will be alive.
“While I was getting my hopes up… I thought I was the only one who could make you laugh like that, or that you only looked at me that way, but I guess I was wrong…”
“Mike…”
“No, Will, you should've told me. I would've stopped these stupid thoughts." But the panic inside of him just got bigger. He just messed it up again, this was not the time to talk about this. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you that, not now. I-I screwed it up, I'm sor-”
His words were stopped by a pair of lips touching his lips. How agitated was he? He didn't even see when Will got close to him. His body was in shock, is this a hallucination? Even so, he tried to reciprocate the kiss, but it was too late, Will had already walked away with an evident blush on his face.
“Gosh, Mike, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, it was just… You wouldn't stop talking and I-I, well, I wanted to-”
Now it was his turn to be brave and shut Will. The brown-haired boy reciprocated almost immediately, putting pressure on Mike's lips. His stomach was full of butterflies that collided inside of him, all his worries and fury had vanished.
With one hand he took Will by the waist and with the other, he carefully took his jaw to tilt his head slightly and deepen the kiss.
He felt Will's hands grab his upper arm and heard a small sound that came out of Will's throat, but neither of them cared. They were in the only paradise that existed inside this hell, drunk in the taste of the other and the feeling of their lips together.
It wasn't long before both of them felt their lungs running out of air when they had to pull apart the kiss. They looked at each other's eyes and smiled, both agitated. He noted the blush in Will's face and his lips swollen by the kiss, and he couldn't help but smile even more at the sight.
“That was… wow,” said Will, once he caught his breath.
“Yeah, wow…”
They traced each other's faces with their eyes again, without letting the other go out of the embrace, and both nervously chuckled.
“I didn't plan it to go like this, well, I didn't plan it at all,” started Mike, looking down to avoid Will's eyes. “But after today, it hit me that we don't have tomorrow guaranteed. I mean, today I almost was a demogorgon's breakfast, but you were there to stop it…”
Both laughed under their breaths and Mike continued, now looking at Will's eyes, who was already looking at him like he was everything in the world that deserved attention while he smiled with his red and swollen lips.
“The thing is… it took me time to realize and much more time to accept it, and I know it doesn't justify how much of a lout I was these years, but… I really like you, and I dare to say that it's much more than that… I love you, William Byers.”
He could feel his face start to heat up while he watched Will's face get redder and his smile grow even more. And in one blink, their lips were sealed together again. Mike immediately closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the feeling of kissing the lips of Will Byers. This kiss is softer, one that warms your heart.
“I love you too, Michael Wheeler…” Will whispered in front of his lips once they parted, and left a last quick kiss on his lips.
Mike was sure he was smiling like a fool, but he didn't care if the one who was making him smile like that was Will.
“And I'm sorry to ruin the moment, but I have two things in mind and, you know… only with you I can't wait to say them.”
“Ruin? Will, you could never ruin something, go ahead. You can always say whatever crosses your mind with me.”
And there he was again, using his “stupid” Will tone. Will smiled at him and both parted from the embrace.
“First thing is that just now I will let you call me William, you know I don't like it when they call me by my full name. But this is an exception.” His smile showed that he wasn't angry, still, Mike nodded, he already knew but it was worth the moment. “And second thing, who were you jealous of?”
Will arched his eyebrows in question and Mike groaned, making Will chuckle. Indeed, he is the only one who can make him laugh easily with simple things.
“You really had to ask? Besides, I wouldn't call it jealousy. I would call it… ‘being annoyed because I thought that my best friend was hiding from me that he liked someone’.”
“Mike, that's literally jealousy, don't try to give it a longer name.”
“Ugh, okay… Robin, I was mad- jealous at Robin.”
And then the only thing filling his ears and the upper floor of the building is Will's laugh. He is genuinely confused, he has never been more confused in his life. What's the funny thing? Well, it is a bit stupid to be jealous of a girl who was practically just his friend, but that didn't give him the right to laugh at his face!
“Will… Will, what's so funny?”
But apparently Will couldn't hear him. His hands went to his stomach and tears started to come down his face from laughing so hard. Mike stayed in his place, observing him while trying to figure out what Will was saying between breaths.
“Oh, this can't be true. You have to be joking, Mike!” Will started once he controlled his laughter. “Really? Robin?”
“Yeah. I mean, it was pretty obvious that I could assume that, no? That day on the radio she said that she had a date that night and you disappeared all night with Robin and your mom didn't find you until the next day, together. Then, you wouldn't stop looking at her while we were walking towards the tunnels, nor stop talking about saving her and how well you get along with her, even now you looked really really close. What else would I think?”
“Of course, obviously I would disappear all night with a girl older than me in the middle of this possible apocalypse while an interdimensional monster is connected to me and everyone was working on plans to find him and destroy him.”
“Well, I confess that was irrational and stupid of me to assume that, it's nothing you would do… but you can't deny that it looked like something else!”
“You are the biggest fool in the town, Mike. Of every person here, you assumed that about Robin. Robin!” He once again chuckled and got close to Mike. “It amazes me the way you're so oblivious when it comes to these things, still you're the one that I love…”
Will placed a short and sweet kiss on his lips to get back to the rest, but Mike took him by the wrist and brought him closer to kiss him again. Will reciprocated right away and both shared another needy but warm kiss, the taller boy seizing the opportunity to slightly bite Will's lips. They parted and smiled at each other.
“Why is it so funny that I was jealous of Robin?”
Will just shrugged and gave him a small smile, then he went downstairs quickly.
“Will? Will! Answer me!!”