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Steve leaned back against his couch, getting comfortable as another episode of The Price is Right droned on on the TV in his newly-shared living room with none other than Robin Buckley.
The chaos of the past few years had settled in the proverbial dust, and everyone had finally started to reach a point of contentment and comfortability in the haze.
After Vickie left Robin to pursue her nursing career elsewhere, Robin had naturally proposed a roommate situation to Steve, who immediately took the bait. Cheaper rent, shared chores, and living with his best friend sounded like a pretty sweet deal to him.
He didn’t see the others as often anymore. They still made it a point to do things together, never straying too far, but it grew more and more difficult as everyone started to trickle off into their own lives.
“How’s Baby Byers doing? I feel like I haven’t seen him in forever.”
“Will?” Robin tore her gaze from Plinko. “Will’s good. Why do you ask?”
Steve shrugged, “I dunno, I was just thinking about him. Quite a few years of my life revolved around protecting him from the evils of the universe, so I just want to make sure he’s still doing alright. Is that a crime?”
“No crimes. Just weird you’d ask right now.”
“What? Why?”
Robin laughed brightly, “I just got off the phone with him.”
She gestured to her room, where she had been talking on the phone loudly for the last few hours before joining Steve on the couch. He hadn’t been paying attention enough to listen to what she was saying, although he could have if he’d wanted to.
Steve raised an eyebrow, prompting her to continue. Now he was curious.
“Just— Just, y’know. He’s having some Tammy drama, nothing too crazy. He’ll get through it.”
“Tammy drama? I got the reference that day in the Squawk, by the way. Felt pretty clued-in,” Steve boasted, proud of himself. He sat up a little straighter now, asking as an afterthought, “Who is Will’s Tammy, anyway?”
“Mike. Duh,” Robin rolled her eyes as if she was sharing the most obvious piece of information in the world.
Steve froze for about five seconds.
“Wheeler? Mike Wheeler is Will’s Tammy?” he barked out a laugh, but his face quickly fell as the pieces started to click into place in his head.
“Yeah. I helped him push through it by telling him about my Tammy, and I think it’s working,” Robin said, full of nonchalance.
Steve looked up at the ceiling in silence for a minute, wondering how his friend had fucked this up so badly without his knowledge.
“No, Robin, you don’t get it. I’ve known those boys basically their entire lives, Mike is not Will’s Tammy. It’s just, like—” he huffed, frustrated now. “It’s not even a comparable situation.”
Robin didn’t seem to get it. “Sure it is! Mike’s straight, and Will’s crush on him is what helped him to come to terms with his feelings. It’s a completely comparable situation.”
Steve grabbed his keys from the dish next to the front door and started shoving on his shoes without a second thought.
“Where are you going?” Robin asked, gesturing back to The Price is Right on the TV. “This isn’t even a re-run!”
“There are more important things than the big showcase right now, Robin. You’ve led little Byers completely astray here, and I’ve gotta go fix it.”
She scoffed, “Fix it? What are you even talking about, Steve?”
“Just trust me,” he spit back distractedly before the front door slammed behind him, leaving Robin in the silence of their apartment with Bob Barker’s voice as her only company.
⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
Steve banged his fist on the front door of the Wheeler’s house, not caring how late at night it was.
He remembered Ted and Karen being heavy sleepers, anyway. It was truly amazing that they had never caught him sneaking in through Nancy’s window, despite his inability to do so quietly.
He saw a light flick on in Mike’s room through the upstairs window. Shit.
He didn’t exactly have a plan when coming over here, but he knew it didn’t involve Mike. Yet, at least.
He was in search of Will, and it was honestly really inconvenient that he happened to be living in the same house as Mike at a time like this. He briefly considered how awful it must be to live under the same roof as the guy you had a crush on, especially if you thought he was straight and there was no chance. He shivered and knocked again, urgency taking over.
Mike opened the door, rubbing sleep from his eyes, “Steve, dude, it’s almost midnight. What are you doing here?”
“Is Byers here?” he asked, stress evident in his voice.
Mike shook his head, “No, I think he’s out with Nancy tonight.”
“No, Will. Baby Byers,” Steve corrected.
Mike perked up a little, focusing more on Steve’s words as soon as Will was mentioned. Steve almost rolled his eyes at how oblivious all of these people were — except apparently him.
“Yeah, he’s asleep. Why? Is everything okay?” Mike gripped the door, slight stress replacing the grogginess on his features. Steve could understand why, he supposed. It was a little odd of him to show up so late with such urgency, but he couldn’t exactly tell Mike his reason for stopping by.
“Oh, yeah. All good, don’t worry. I just need to talk to him. Can I come in?”
Steve took a step closer to the door, attempting to shoulder past Mike into the house. He knew Will was likely down in the basement, he’d just go talk to him there.
Mike stood firmly in his way.
“What, you’re just going to go wake him up? To talk to him?”
Steve nodded once like it was obvious, “Yup.”
Mike shook his head, “What if he doesn’t want to talk to you? He’s sleeping.”
Steve nearly stomped his foot in annoyance, “Yeah, well. It’s urgent, Mike. Can you please just let me in?”
“I thought you said everything was okay,” Mike said, furrowing his brows in suspicion.
“It is! Why are you being so difficult? Are you Will’s gatekeeper or something?” Steve threw his arms out dramatically. He hadn’t expected to have to cross a bridge troll in order to have a simple conversation with Will Byers, although maybe he should have seen that coming when showing up on Mike’s doorstep.
“Fine, I’ll go get him,” Mike compromised, shutting the door directly in Steve’s face as he disappeared back into the house.
Steve stood on the porch in the darkness, hands on his hips and tapping his foot as he stared at the closed door. This kid really had some audacity.
The door reopened a few minutes later, this time with Will stepping inside the frame. Mike paced just a few yards behind him, watching the interaction.
“Steve?” Will questioned. “Is everything okay?”
Steve sighed, “Yeah, mostly. I just need to talk to you. Alone.”
“Mostly?” Mike stressed from behind him. “You said it was all good!”
“Oh my god, you are so uptight. The world isn’t ending again, I promise. There’s just something I need to set straight with Will, here,” Steve explained. “So if you don’t mind fucking off, Mike, that would be really helpful.”
Mike crossed his arms, stepping closer to Will authoritatively, “Why can’t I hear whatever it is, too?”
Steve had had just about enough of this. He reached out and grabbed Will’s arm, yanking him out of the door in his pajamas and into the cold night air.
“Come on, we’ll just talk in my truck.”
“Hey, wait! What the fuck?” Mike called out, but didn’t follow them as they trudged toward the car.
Steve was a little surprised that Will was just following him without his own protest, but he did kinda show up out of nowhere to yank him out of his bed, so it was fair if he was a little slow to catch up to the series of events unfolding.
“Is he always like that?” Steve hiked his thumb back over his shoulder towards the house.
“Kinda,” Will shrugged.
“Jesus Christ,” Steve shook his head. “This might be worse than I thought.”
Will looked at him, confused, as Steve opened the truck door and ushered him in the passenger side. Steve rounded the hood and joined him in the driver’s seat.
“Okay,” Steve turned his body toward Will, clasping his hands together in seriousness. “Before I start, please tell me about your Tammy drama.”
Will nearly choked on his breath, “My what?”
Steve glanced up toward Mike’s window, still fully lit, where he could make out a tall frame silhouetted by the light. Mike was standing in the window, watching the truck.
“Oh my god,” Steve dragged his hand down his face. “Hold that thought.”
He shifted the truck into reverse and rolled out of the driveway, driving just a few doors down and parking behind a line of trees that obscured the Wheeler house from view.
“Okay, so, your Tammy. Spill,” Steve relaxed back into his seat again, now ready to listen.
“Steve, you really don’t need to get involved with this, it’s fine. I’m handling it, and I’m honestly going to kill Robin for saying anything about it. I knew she wouldn’t be good at keeping secrets,” Will started rambling, reaching for the door handle to leave.
“No, please. Stop,” Steve placed a gentle hand on Will’s arm to keep him from leaving. “She’s clearly not very good at giving advice, either, so I don’t think I have much of a choice but to step in.”
This piqued Will’s interest, “What do you mean?”
“Well, I think she’s leading you in the wrong direction, if I’m honest. But first I want to hear what you have to say, just to make sure I’m all up-to-speed.”
“Uh, I don’t know what you want me to say… Robin told you about my crush, and... What? I don’t understand how this has anything to do with you,” Will crossed his arms defensively.
“Robin said there was drama.”
Will rolled his eyes, betrayed by her, “It’s nothing serious. He’s just been kinda… weird, lately.”
“How so?”
Will looked at him for a second like he was considering saying more before shaking his head, “You don’t even know who I’m talking about, so I don’t know how you think you’re going to help here.”
“Mike,” Steve rushed out. “Mike’s your Tammy, right?”
Color immediately flooded Will’s face. Bingo.
“Except, I don’t think he is. He’s more like…” Steve paused to think on it for a few seconds. “Your Vickie, probably.”
Will scoffs, “Ha, right. This isn’t funny, Steve,” he reaches for the handle again.
“No, I’m serious! I’m not trying to be funny. Did you know that Vickie had a boyfriend before she got with Robin?”
Will froze in place again, “What? She did?”
Steve nodded. “Dan Shelter. I don’t even remember how it happened, I just know that one day she had a boyfriend and the next she was with Robin.”
“So, what? She was just lying to her boyfriend the whole time about being straight?”
“Well, not necessarily,” Steve supplied. “She could like both.”
Will looked at him quizzically, “That’s possible?”
Steve nodded confidently and splayed his hands out, palms up, “Living proof.”
“What?” Will’s eyes widened comically. “You?”
“Correct, Baby Byers.”
“Woah. Okay, this is all a lot to take in,” Will looked back out the window of the truck and down the darkened street, attempting to process what he’d just been told.
“Right, yeah,” Steve sympathized. “None of that really matters right now, though. What matters is that Mike isn’t your Tammy.”
Will huffed, “And how do you know that?”
“He just isn’t,” Steve pushed, sitting up more in his seat. “Like I just told Robin, it’s not a comparable situation. He really isn’t your Vickie, either. He’s your Mike, and nothing else. So now we just need to come up with a plan.”
“A plan? What? No— there will be no plan. The plan is I’m moving on,” Will said.
“How’s that going for you?” Steve tilted his head.
Will looked back at him now, clearly ready to lie until he was met with Steve’s challenging gaze.
“Bad,” he confessed.
“Exactly. So, how about we go back there,” he pointed through the back window toward the house. “And I’ll talk to him and we can figure this all out.”
Steve leaned forward and put the car back into drive, hands gripping the wheel, as if it was just that simple. Within a second, Will’s hands were on his shoulders pushing him back into his seat, away from the steering wheel.
“Absolutely not. You are not telling Mike I have a crush on him.”
“Obviously not,” Steve rolled his eyes. “That’s your confession to handle. I just want to squeeze a little more information out of that head of his, I’m curious where he’s at in all of this.”
“He’s nowhere near any of this, Steve. He’s straight and probably hasn’t thought about it for a single second of his life. So, can we please just drop this?” His hands fell from Steve’s shoulders, but he was pleading now.
“Nope,” Steve stood firm. “Have you ever asked him?”
“What?”
“Have you ever asked Mike if he’s straight?”
Will laughed like he still thought Steve was joking about all of this, “No, it’s pretty obvious. He dated El for years and very clearly is not interested in men.”
“Did you think I was interested in men? Until like, two minutes ago?”
“I guess not,” Will admitted.
“Well, Mike worships the ground you walk on, that much is pretty obvious to everyone. I’m not saying that he is gay, but I just think that he deserves to at least set the record straight himself — no pun intended,” Steve paused to chuckle at himself. “You can’t just assume, that’s not very fair. We have to at least give him a shot to have his own say in the situation. How is he supposed to do that if he doesn’t even know it’s happening?”
Will was quiet for a second, thinking. “I guess you have a point.”
“Great, so, let’s go,” Steve moved to put the truck into gear again.
“Wait! What are you even going to say?” Will panicked again.
“Oh, I haven’t gotten that far yet,” Steve shrugged. “Just trust me, I won’t spill any of your secrets, I promise. I’m pretty good at this on-the-spot stuff.”
Will grumbled as he crossed his arms and sat back in his seat, “You’re totally gonna blow my cover and I’m going to blame this whole thing on Robin. I was peacefully asleep, like, 15 minutes ago.”
“Will, I promise I won’t blow your cover. I’m just going to talk to him, share a little advice, and see where that takes us. Okay?” Steve soothed.
“Fine,” Will agreed, although it was pretty obvious to Steve that his confidence in the plan was low.
Steve ignored him as he rolled back into the Wheeler driveway.
They both opened their doors and exited the truck, walking back across the damp lawn to the porch. Mike’s light was still on upstairs, but his silhouette was no longer in the window.
Will opened the front door with Steve trailing behind him. When they entered the living room, Mike shot straight up from where he was sitting, waiting, on the couch.
Before Mike could say anything, Steve pointed directly at his chest and ordered, “Your turn.”
Mike scoffed, “My turn? What, suddenly you’re a teacher and you think you can just show up at my house and boss us around?”
Steve took a deep breath.
“Great to see that you’ve calmed down in the ten minutes we were gone,” he jabbed sarcastically. He could already sense that this conversation was going to be a lot more difficult than the one he just had with Will, which went surprisingly smoothly, he thought.
Steve started back towards the front door, knowing that Mike’s curiosity would get the best of him and he would follow, regardless of how stubborn he was being.
He was proven right when he turned to climb back into his truck and spotted Mike trudging across the lawn before begrudgingly climbing into the passenger seat where Will had just been sitting. He missed the incredulous look that Mike had shot Will on the way out the door.
“Are you always this cranky when you’re woken up?” Steve started.
“No, only when nobody will tell me what the hell’s going on,” Mike said back with a scowl.
“Nothing’s going on, dude,” Steve assured.
“Then why are you in my driveway at midnight on a Wednesday?”
Steve sighed. Fair point, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you guys, and I was just asking Robin about Will, so I thought it would be nice to stop by and check in. Is that so bad?”
Mike looked him up and down for a second, trying to decide if he bought that story or not. Steve waited with baited breath. It was mostly true.
“Why’d you have to wake us up to do that?” he grumbled, sinking back into the seat after seemingly accepting Steve’s reasoning as the truth.
“Like I said, I needed to talk to Will about something.”
“And yet you still won’t tell me what that was,” Mike breathed out, clearly annoyed at not being in the loop.
“It’s none of your business right now, okay?” Steve cut in with finality. This was about Mike now. “So, how are you doing?”
“How am I doing?” Mike sat up, “Dude, it’s fucking midnight. Can’t we save the small talk for a reasonable hour? I’m fine.”
Mike reached for the door handle and pulled, swinging it open in a smack against the chill of the summer breeze. He was clearly still cranky. Steve had to think quickly to save this and get them back on track with where the conversation needed to go.
“Have you ever been attracted to men?” Steve blurted out. Way to rip the band-aid off.
Mike turned in his seat, door still wide open.
“What?” Mike gawked.
“Listen, okay?” Steve thought quickly. “I’ve just been thinking about myself recently and I’m, like, definitely not straight, y’know?”
Mike blinked a few times, slowly shutting the door behind him again, “So… you’re here to come out to us?”
Steve shrugged, he could go with that, “I guess, maybe.”
“Okay,” Mike nodded slowly, still trying to mentally work out where this was all going. “That’s cool.”
“So, have you?” Steve pushed. Mike could always shut him down.
“I mean… I don’t know. How did you know?”
All of the earlier fire in Mike’s fight had burned out of him. He no longer seemed completely furious about being woken up in the middle of the night to talk with Steve Harrington, and was now listening pretty intently.
Steve decided this was his opportunity to really make an impact.
“I guess it was just kind of… I don’t know, a series of clues? Noticing who you look at first when you walk into a room, who makes you nervous, whose opinion matters the most to you, things like that.”
Mike nodded again, still listening.
“I realized that when I thought about being with men, I wasn’t actually scared because it felt wrong. It was scarier because it felt like it might be a possibility for me,” Steve confessed. “But it doesn’t have to be scary all the time.”
Mike looked up at him now, into his eyes. Steve could almost see a similar fear reflected back in them.
“Wait. But, you dated my sister…?” Mike asked, working through his confusion in real time.
“Well, that was before I really knew,” Steve explained. “But even then, it wouldn’t have changed things. I like both, and just because I’ve dated women, that doesn’t invalidate what I’ve figured out about myself since.”
Mike took this in, and it sounded a lot like what he’d been needing to hear lately.
Steve continued, “I think most people know before they ever say anything out loud. It’s not just an overnight thing.”
“So when did you know?” Mike inquired.
Steve thought for a second, but didn’t have to search too hard to find his answer.
“Remember Eddie?”
Mike’s eyebrows raised for a second before his features shifted into a more solemn expression, “Of course I remember Eddie.”
“Well… yeah.”
Mike looked down at his lap, processing and nodding. He could understand that.
“I’m sorry,” he said, aiming for comfort.
Steve flattened his lips into a straight smile, “Nothing you could have done, right? Anyway, I just— I want you to know that I’m here to talk if you ever need someone to talk to.”
“Thanks, Steve,” Mike said quietly. He had gone into himself a little bit. He suddenly snapped his neck up to look at him again, “Wait. You think I might be…?”
Steve held his hands up, “Woah, I’m not here to make any assumptions. I just said that I’m here to talk. About anything.”
He didn’t deny that maybe he did think that Mike could be gay. Forget every other instance he had picked up on throughout the years, tonight alone might be enough evidence. The intense protective energy, the immediate shift in tone as soon as Steve mentioned liking men, the way that Mike kept glancing back at the house as Steve talked. It was all adding up.
“Okay, yeah. Thanks,” Mike said again. He seemed slightly relieved to find that Steve wasn’t accusing him of anything. “So, is that all?”
“For tonight, sure. You’re free to go.”
Mike rolled his eyes at Steve’s teacher-tone.
He swung the door open again and plopped both feet to the ground below. Steve almost expected him to turn around and flip him off before running back to the house, or something, but instead he lingered for a moment in the truck’s doorway.
“Thanks for telling me, Steve,” Mike said.
“Oh—” Steve was caught off guard. “Yeah, dude. Of course. Thanks for listening.”
Mike nodded and closed the truck door, and walked back toward his porch slowly. Steve could almost see all of the thoughts swirling around in his head. He figured his work for the night was done, and he hoped that he hadn’t caused too much of an emotional spiral for the poor guy. Coming to terms with your sexuality really wasn’t the easiest task, Steve knew that firsthand.
He watched Mike retreat back into his home before pulling out of the driveway again, vowing to come up with a better plan to help these two in the morning.
When Mike opened his front door, Will was sitting on the couch waiting for him, too. He stood up immediately, just as Mike had when Will first came back inside from his talk with Steve.
“Hi,” Mike breathed out, leaning back against the door to shut it behind him.
“Hi, um,” Will fidgeted nervously. “Everything okay?”
“Yup,” Mike nodded quickly.
Will watched him, clearly waiting for more. He had been anxiously awaiting Mike’s return, totally expecting Steve to have spilled the beans and as ready as he could be to clean up whatever situation they found themselves in after that. His heart was thudding in his chest.
Mike smoothed his sweaty palms down the thighs of his pajama pants, “Sorry that he made me wake you up, I don’t really know what all of that was about.”
“It’s okay, me either,” Will shrugged and lied.
“Uh, I’m just gonna—” Mike pointed vaguely in the direction of his room.
“Right, yeah. Sorry, goodnight.” Will stumbled towards the basement again, feeling embarrassed for having any hope that Steve’s conversation with Mike would lead to anything happening between them. At least it didn’t seem like his secrets had been spilled, right?
Will wondered if he should feel bad for wishing they had been. That would have been easier than having to work up the courage to tell Mike himself, right?
“Goodnight, Will,” Mike finished before climbing the stairs two steps at a time. Steve had unknowingly just kick started one of the longest nights of overthinking of his life.
⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
The next morning, Robin opened her bedroom door and stretched in the hallway through a sleepy yawn. Steve was already seated at the counter, cup of coffee in hand and looking vaguely stressed out.
“Morning,” Robin mumbled. “You’re up early.”
“Yeah, well. You’ve caused a massive problem with your fucked up gaydar and now we have to figure out how to fix it.”
“Me? We? I thought you said you were fixing it last night!” Robin squawked, blinking sleep from her eyes still.
“But you started this, so you have to help me help them.”
“What do you mean?” Robin wasn’t the brightest in the morning.
Before Steve could respond, there was a loud knock at the door. Steve’s brows furrowed as he looked at Robin, who shrugged, meaning she had no idea who could be at their apartment this early either.
Steve got up from his barstool and made his way to the door, opening it without bothering to peer through the peephole to check who was on the other side.
Mike Wheeler was probably the last person he expected to see standing in his doorway, despite offering that exact thing just mere hours before. Mike looked as if he hadn’t slept at all, still wearing the same pajama pants from the night before and sporting even darker circles under his eyes than he normally did.
“Dude, what’s wrong?” Steve gawked, opening the door wider to let him in, then closed the door behind him.
“I think I am,” Mike said firmly. When nobody responded, he clarified, “Gay.”
Steve’s eyebrows shot up into his hair, “Woah, that was fast.”
Robin gasped from behind him and then quickly slapped her hand over her mouth, which only brought more attention to it. Steve turned to shoot her a look before focusing his attention back on Mike and resting a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently.
“That’s great, man. I’m proud of you for figuring it out,” Steve reassured him. He felt kind of honored that he was becoming a safe person for people to come out to. What was his count at? Three?
“Is this about Wiiiiill?” Robin sing-songed, gliding across the hardwood floor in her socks into the entryway, now fully awake.
Mike actually choked on a breath.
He stammered, “Uh, n— no, why would it be about Will?”
Robin laughed lightly, “It’s obviously about Will.”
“Robin, stop,” Steve warned. She was so not graceful about this, and Steve was starting to understand why he was a better person to come to with this kind of confession.
“How long have you known?” Steve asked gently.
Mike huffed a sigh, “I don’t know, Steve. Things have been weird, since…”
He trailed off, not being able to fully say it, but they all knew what he meant. Since Will came out.
“So, is this about someone specific?” Steve prompted, a little quieter to keep things between him and Mike, worried that Robin might shatter this fragile moment. Mike didn’t have to admit anything he wasn’t ready to, yet.
Mike looked back at him, chewing on his lip for a second before rolling his eyes and gesturing to Robin exasperatedly. “Obviously.”
Holy shit. Steve was never going to let any of them live this down.
Robin actually squealed, jumping up and down a few times while holding onto Steve’s shoulders from behind. He tried to stand still and not let Robin jostle him around too much. Mike tried to bite back a smile.
“Well, we don’t know if Will has feelings for you, we can’t just assume that,” Steve cut in with reason. As he said before, this confession should come from Will himself.
“What?” Robin seemed genuinely confused. “Yes we do!”
“Robin!” Steve shouted through gritted teeth.
Mike looked between them with wide eyes.
“Okay,” Steve admitted, taking a deep breath. “Maybe we do. Does that change things?”
Mike’s hands flew to his head, fingers raking through his dark hair before dragging down his face slowly, “Fucking obviously it changes a lot of fucking things, Steve.”
Robin grimaced.
Mike groaned into his hands, “Why didn’t you just start with that last night if you knew? Is that what you and Will were talking about for so long?”
“Hey, listen,” Steve attempted to control the rapidly spiraling situation. “That conversation was private, but yeah. Robin gave Will some terrible advice, and I just needed to…” Steve popped his lips, thinking about how to word this. “Put things back on track. And now we are, so.”
“So what do I do?” Mike asked helplessly.
Steve smiled, this was all turning out to be kinda cute. “What do you want to do?”
“Uh, I don’t know,” Mike looked at the ground, blinking a few times and trying to really check in with himself. What did he want to do next?
“I guess I want him to know how I feel?” he spoke before he let himself think too much about what that might entail.
He looked back up at both Steve and Robin, gauging their reactions. They were both still smiling softly, and Mike took that as a good sign.
Steve thought that maybe this was alright, maybe Will deserved to have someone who was a little bit more confident in the way he feels because he already knows that the feelings are reciprocated. There wasn’t any harm in that, and Will would still have to tell Mike the details of how he feels, too.
“That’s good,” Steve nodded. “I think you both deserve that.”
Mike nodded. Will did deserve that, especially now that Mike knew Will had just been waiting for him to catch up all along. Mike felt stupid for not being able to see that until it was confirmed to him by someone else. It all made so much more sense in his head, like that one piece of information was all that he was missing for everything to feel like it was on the right track again.
The sleepless night felt as if it wasn’t even phasing Mike anymore, actually. There was the energy of a thousand lightbulbs flowing through his veins now.
“So, do you think I should, like… plan something?” he took a guess at his next steps, needing reassurance.
Steve nodded, already starting to think of ideas while Robin squealed again from behind.
“Yes, oh my god! You should make a playlist of his favorite songs and like, throw rocks at his window or something,” she rambled excitedly.
Steve rolled his eyes and gently pushed her back from where she was still resting over his shoulders.
“You should not do that,” he stressed.
Mike nodded fervently in agreement, “Too cliche.”
Robin scoffed in disappointment and dramatically deflated, “Fine, you guys are on your own then.”
She sulked over to the couch and fell down in a heap against the cushions, still listening but resigning herself from adding in any more ideas that would immediately be shut down by the boys.
“Is there anywhere that’s, like, special to you two? Somewhere you’ve spent a lot of time?” Steve tried a different idea.
“Um,” Mike spoke softly, like he was sharing a secret. “We’ve been spending a lot of time at Lover’s Lake recently. Just talking.”
Steve was smiling again, “That’s perfect. What if you set something up for him there?”
Mike thought it over, picturing it all in his head while the idea grew on him, “Okay, yeah. I guess it would be best if we just had somewhere to talk for a while.”
Steve nodded, “You could put a picnic together? Get some of his favorite things?”
“You’re a genius,” Mike gushed. “Totally.”
Robin pretended that their idea wasn’t just as cliche as the one she had just shared, but it was fine. Will deserved this kind of treatment.
“You can’t wear your pajama pants,” she called lazily from the couch.
“Fuck,” Mike swore, looking down at the blue and green flannel drawstring pants, panicked. “You’re right. Steve, can I borrow something?”
Steve raised his eyebrows, looking down at the smaller boy’s frame, “Uh, I’m not sure my pants will fit you, but sure. We can try… Why can’t you just go back home to grab your own pants?”
“I can’t just look at Will normally now. He’ll know,” Mike said, like it was obvious.
So all three of them migrated to Steve’s bedroom, where he proceeded to gather an armful of different options for Mike to try on. Robin ran to her room to grab a pair, too, promising they were from the men’s department and reasoning that they might fit him better than Steve’s.
They did, but Mike wasn’t a fan of the green color, so he continued to try on every black pair that Steve had added to the pile. He didn’t care if he was being picky, everything had to be right. Steve ventured into his closet when none of the pairs they’d tested out had been able to stay on Mike’s hips for longer than a few seconds.
“Oh, what about these?” Steve returned with another black pair. “These are from a few years back, so they might fit better.”
Luckily, with a belt on, they were perfect. They made Mike’s legs somehow look longer than they already were, the waistband sitting higher than his typical wardrobe. Robin made him tuck in the white t-shirt he was wearing, and that made everything look a little bit better, too.
“I think I need a different shirt, too,” Mike said as he looked back at himself in Steve’s mirror.
He watched both Robin and Steve nod behind him.
“You need some other stuff, right? Let’s just go shopping. I’ll take you,” Steve offered.
Mike felt his chest fill with something like gratitude. He would never be able to thank Steve enough for his help with all of this if things ended up working out the way he hoped.
“Sure, yeah. That’s a great idea,” Mike hid his emotions. He couldn’t get sappy yet.
A few minutes later they were headed outside toward Steve’s truck, Robin wishing them good luck from the front door. When Mike climbed into the passenger seat, he couldn’t help but think about how much had changed in his head since the last time he’d been sitting there just hours ago.
And really, nothing had actually changed. He’d just recontextualized a few things and made some more solid decisions along the way.
Steve drove them to the mall first to find Mike a new shirt and they made a short list of the other things they’d need along the way: picnic supplies, a blanket, some candles. Maybe flowers?
Mike practically tore through the section of men’s button-up shirts at Dillards. When he found a plain white one that he liked, he wore it straight out of the dressing room and made the cashier scan the price tag on his sleeve before ripping it off and throwing it away along with the receipt and the white sleep shirt he had nowhere else to put.
“How do I tell Will that we’re going on a date without telling him that?” Mike wondered aloud. He let his mind play through how things could go as he’d shopped for his shirt.
“Uhh,” Steve thought. “Maybe Robin could help? Even if she does have horrible gaydar, I’m she could probably make up a fake excuse to get him to meet you there.”
Mike smirked and clapped a hand down on Steve’s shoulder. “You’re pretty good at this, y’know?”
Steve made a noise, vindicated. “See! That’s what I told Will!”
Mike laughed at that and chose not to pry more into the conversation they’d had. He’d hear it all from Will himself soon enough.
They wandered through the mall in search of a payphone and found one just outside the JCPenney. Mike stepped up to the phone on the wall and inserted a quarter that he luckily had stowed away in his wallet, then punched in the number for Steve and Robin’s apartment that Steve had kindly scribbled onto a ripped napkin for him.
Robin answered, “Hello?”
“Hi, Robin, it’s Mike.”
“Oh, hi Mike! Is everything okay?” Robin still sounded excited on the other end, despite her questioning.
“Yup, no worries. I’m just wondering if you might be able to help me get Will out of the house? I need him to meet me at the corner of Coal Mill and Holland and then I’ve got the rest of it from there, but it’ll really be better if I have some time to set up before he gets there, so around 5 or so would be best,” Mike rambled on nervously, thinking too much about how Will would be meeting him for their first date in just a few hours.
“And maybe tell him to wear something nice?” Mike tacked on at the end, feeling a little bit guilty for not being able to give Will the full heads up about what was about to happen. The surprise was the point, but still. Mike hated surprises and was empathetic, especially toward Will.
“Obviously I’ll help! Don’t you worry, Wheeler, we’ll be at the corner of Coal Mill and Holland at 5 PM sharp. I’ve got this,” Robin stated confidently.
Mike smiled, happy to include her, “Great, perfect. Just make sure he doesn’t know what’s going on, okay? It’s a surprise.”
“I’m great at secrets,” Robin promised. Mike knew firsthand that this wasn’t true, given how easily she revealed Will’s feelings to him that morning, but he trusted her with this.
“Thanks for your help, Robin,” Mike said and ended the call.
He thought Steve was being a little too harsh on her. She had been doing her best and he was glad that Will had had someone to talk to over the past couple of years. And, in her defence, Mike knew he wasn’t the easiest to read.
Mike returned to Steve, telling him that it was all taken care of and led them back to his truck in a hurry so they still had time to pick up everything else they had planned. They had stops to make at the florist, the grocery store, and a cheese monger.
⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
A couple of hours later, Mike waited at the corner of Coal Mill and Holland with a bouquet of yellow roses held in sweaty hands behind his back.
Robin’s car approached in the distance and Mike stared intently as Will’s soft brown hair came into view, nearly glistening in the golden sun that poured through the window.
Mike’s breath caught in his throat as Will glanced up, the car rolling to a slow stop at the corner while Will’s eyes met Mike’s. He watched as the surprise rolled across his features. First, at seeing him here, and then as his eyes travelled down Mike’s outfit, taking in the button-up shirt and nice slacks that Steve had loaned him.
Will gawked back at Robin, seemingly betrayed by her lack of warning, “What’s happening?”
“Just go,” Robin gushed as she practically pushed Will out of the passenger seat and onto the quiet street.
Mike tried to calm his nerves and hide the slight tremor in his hand when he held it out to Will.
“Hi. Come with me?” he asked.
Will tentatively stepped forward and took Mike’s hand in his own, while the bouquet of roses was placed into his other hand. He faintly heard Robin’s car speed away through the rushing in his ears.
“Mike, what’s going on?” Will was breathless, he couldn’t really believe what was happening. He had been slightly suspicious when Robin asked him to accompany her to dinner, but this was the last place he thought he would end up.
His thoughts had spiraled while he sorted through outfit options for something nice to wear, as Robin had instructed. He had briefly considered that Steve’s promise from the night before and Mike’s absence throughout the day might have something to do with this, but he hadn’t let his mind wander far into the hope.
Now, climbing the hill to Lover’s Lake with his hand in Mike’s, Will was convinced that Steve was a miracle worker.
Mike didn’t answer Will’s question, just led him the rest of the way up the path, never loosening his grip.
When Will stumbled out of the brush and into the clearing, he blinked to take in the setting before him. A blanket spread on the edge of the bank overlooking the lake, a picnic basket filled to the brim with fruits and cheeses, and somehow a bottle of wine and two glasses. There were a few candles that looked like they’d been lit for longer than a few minutes, wax dripping down the sides and onto the rocks they were placed on top of.
He looked from the blanket up to Mike’s waiting eyes, watching as Will caught up to why he had been gone all day.
He thought that showing him would be better than answering and ruining the surprise. It was pretty clear that they were officially on a date.
“So, listen,” Mike started. “I set all of this up for us, and I just want to have fun, but there’s a few scary things I need to say first, okay? I just want to get them all out of the way so we’re on the same page.”
Will nodded, eyes wide and frozen like a deer in headlights.
Mike took a shallow breath, still shaking slightly as he refused to drop Will’s hand through his confession.
“I really like you, Will. As more than a best friend,” he let out. “And I know I’m a little slow to catch up and I missed some of the hints along the way, but I’m hoping I’m not too late.”
A moment hung between them as Mike waited, unsure if Will would return the sentiment or drop his hand and dart back into the trees in the opposite direction.
“I– I really like you, too,” Will confessed after a beat, still not having an easy time finding his words.
“I thought so,” Mike smiled. “But it’s nice to hear it from you.”
“Did Steve tell you?” Will guessed.
Mike shook his head. “No, but Robin did,” he said through a playfully pained grimace.
Will rolled his eyes fondly and gently placed the bouquet of flowers down on the blanket.
“I’m going to kill her, she is so bad at this. First she gave me terrible advice, then she left out some really important details, and then she spilled my secret!”
Mike laughed and laced his fingers more confidently through Will’s, taking his other free hand now, too.
“For what it’s worth, I’m glad I knew. I probably would have been too scared to do this if I hadn’t known for sure that I wasn’t going to, like, completely ruin everything.”
Will nodded, following his line of reasoning. It made sense. Maybe he was actually grateful for Robin, too. It looked like his night was shaping up to be pretty magical thanks to both her and Steve’s help.
“I also want to apologize,” Mike continued. “I haven't been the best to you, and I’m sorry for not realizing that sooner. I think everything I was doing was clouded by my own fear of what I was feeling, and I just wasn’t ready to accept it all. But, that’s not an excuse for the ways I’ve treated you. I should have been there for you more than I was.”
“Mike,” Will whispered softly. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” Mike countered. “But I’m going to make it up to you every day, okay?”
Will laughed softly to hide the emotion rising in his chest and threatening at his tear ducts, “Okay.”
“So, with all of that out of the way,” Mike smiled slightly now, jutting his head back to the blanket behind him. “Do you want to go on a date with me?”
Will’s eyes sparkled up at him, and maybe it was because of the unshed tears, but in that moment, he felt like he was staring straight into the sun. “I’d love to.”
Mike led him to the blanket and they both sat close. He unpacked the picnic item by item, showing Will what he’d gathered throughout the day and things easily fell into their natural rhythm. It really felt like any other afternoon they’d shared at the lake, but this time all of the unspoken boundaries had vanished and they were surrounded by flickering candles in the slight breeze.
Will had to fight to not pinch himself every few minutes. How could he not be dreaming?
After they’d sampled a handful of fancy cheeses and each downed their first glass of wine, Will looked up from the pomegranate he was picking at to find Mike staring straight at him. When Will caught him looking, he didn’t avert his gaze, and there was an intensity in his eyes that Will hadn’t seen much before.
“What?” Will asked.
“You’re just— beautiful,” Mike said. A pink blush crept up Will’s neck, reaching his cheeks and the tips of his ears. Mike giggled as he watched it happen.
“Mike, stop,” Will hid his face with his hand.
Mike immediately reached up to grab it and pull it away. He wasn’t done looking.
“No, it’s true. And… I really want to kiss you right now,” he said without thinking.
Will blinked once and did the same, “Kiss me, then.”
And then Mike was leaning in, closing the distance between them on the blanket and pressing their lips together softly as the breeze swirled around them. The kiss didn’t last long before they both pulled apart, Mike’s hand still on Will’s face.
“Woah,” Mike breathed out.
“Yeah,” Will agreed, smiling into the space between their mouths.
Mike leaned back in to steal another kiss, more confidence in his movements this time. Will melted into it and Mike poured everything he’d been feeling into the way he pressed into Will’s lips.
Time passed, and they ended up laying on the blanket, Will’s head on Mike’s chest as they looked up through the trees at the setting sun.
They talked for hours. They covered anything and everything. They shared normal conversations that they would have on any other afternoon, mixed in with hushed confessions they’d been keeping in for years.
“It kinda felt like you were eye fucking me the night of graduation,” Mike whispered. “When I was doing that stupid Strahd impression.”
Will descended into giggles, burying his face in Mike’s chest.
“Was I making that up?” Mike asked through his own grin, already having the confirmation he needed.
He felt Will shake his head against him.
“I knew it,” Mike whispered victoriously.
⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
Mike and Will stepped back through the front door of the Wheeler house, Mike with his hands around Will’s waist, guiding him through the darkness toward the wall where he could flip on the light switch. Once they were surrounded in light again, he leaned down and pressed a kiss into Will’s soft hair below him.
They both absently knew that nobody else would be awake in the house this late, they had stayed out long after the summer sun had bled into the horizon and made way for the glow of the moon and stars.
“I just have to do one quick thing, baby,” he murmured into the silky strands as they both toed their shoes off.
Will turned to peer at him with a curious look, but Mike quelled it with a quick peck to his lips before reluctantly releasing his hold on Will’s waist and moving to the phone on the wall. He hurriedly punched in the series of numbers on the corner of the napkin he fished from the back pocket of Steve’s pants.
“Mike?” Steve answered from the other side after a few rings.
“Hi, Steve,” he looked up through his lashes and with a shy smile for Will, who had hopped up to sit on the counter to watch.
“How’d it go? You alright?” Steve worried.
“Yeah,” Mike breathed out, not taking his eyes off of Will. “It went perfectly.”
“And Baby Byers is happy?” Steve tested. Mike didn’t doubt that Will could hear him too, he was probably sitting close enough to pick up on the muffled voice.
Mike surveyed Will, socked feet dangling as he sat atop the counter, watching him happily through a hazy smile. He couldn’t help the smile that grew on his own face, too.
“Yeah, he’s happy,” Mike promised, “But only I get to call him that now, got it?”