Chapter Text
He picked up the phone and placed it back down.
“What do I say? What do I say?” Mike thought, pacing back and forth. “What if I mess up? We haven’t talked in weeks.”
“How are him and Carlton doing?” “How’s college?” Mike groaned from annoyance, why couldn’t he come up with a conversation starter like usual?
He rubbed his thumb along the edge of the phone, staring at it like it might give him an answer. His pacing slowed, then sped up again, the floorboards creaking under each step.
Then he remembered it was only Will he was calling. It wasn’t a formal meeting. His fear of messing up talking to him faded away.
He quickly ran to the phone and dialed the number. His fingers hovered for a fraction of a second before pressing the last digit.
It rang for about three seconds.
Mike stood still while it rang, shoulders slightly tense, listening to every tone like it meant something.
Then Will picked up, but didn’t speak.
Mike straightened instantly.
“Hey, Will, it’s Mike!” he said into the phone.
Then the world went silent.
The creaks in the floorboards suddenly felt extremely loud as Mike waited for Will’s response. He shifted slightly against the wall, gripping the phone tighter without realizing it, his knuckles tensing.
Soft whimpering came from the other end of the line.
Mike froze.
“Mike… it’s not the time. I can’t catch up right now,” Will said, trying to hold back his tears.
His voice sounded uneven, like he was trying not to fall apart mid-sentence.
Mike noticed the fear behind his voice as it quaked with each word.
“You’re not okay, are you?”
His heart clenched at the severity of the situation.
”Why is Will crying? Should I have not called?”
His thoughts came too fast. He looked down at the floor, then back up at nothing, like he could find answers in the silence of his room.
“What did he do? What could he do to make him feel better? What was even happening?”
“Please go away, Mike. I need space…”
Will sat on the floor sobbing into his arms, the phone resting loosely beside him, the sound of his breathing uneven and broken through the speaker.
Mike swallowed hard.
“Will, I can’t just hang up on you when you’re acting like this. What’s wrong?”
He leaned his head back against the wall, staring at the ceiling now, jaw tight, listening for anything that would make sense of this.
“Mike, as I said before, I can’t tell you. Go away,” Will said, voice breaking slightly.
There was a pause after it, like even saying it hurt.
“Was it something I did the last time we talked?”
Mike shifted again, this time slower, sitting down on the edge of his bed without realizing it. Excuses began filling his mind, trying to explain what could possibly make Will act like this.
Then it clicked.
The last time they talked, Will hadn’t mentioned Carlton at all.
Usually, half their conversations involved Will gushing about Carlton and all the things they had done together. Will loved talking about their long walks and movie nights.
Mike didn’t mind listening because it made Will happy. Or at least he thought it did.
Deep down, Mike wanted what Carlton had. He wanted to be able to show his love to the world.
That love could never happen, especially not with the person he wanted it with.
“Was it Carlton?” Mike asked softly, carefully, like saying it too loud might make everything worse.
On the other end, Will stopped crying for a second and lifted his head.
“Carlton…”
The name of his partner made his heart ache.
“Yeah. It was him.”
He hesitated, wiping a tear from his face, his hand shaking slightly as he pulled it away.
“Mike, I don’t want to talk about him right now.”
His voice cracked again, and he let out a broken breath before the crying came back.
“What’s the matter, Will? I thought you loved him.”
“Yeah, I love Carlton,” he sobbed. “I try to love him as much as I can, but there’s some stuff I haven’t told anyone.”
Will slowly looked down at his arm. A large purple tinted bruise was visible. He stared at it for a second too long, then quickly pulled his sleeve down, like hiding it could undo it.
“Why would I let Carlton do that to me?” he thought to himself.
“Mike, could we maybe meet in person? Just to talk?”
He pressed his forehead into his arm, trying to steady his breathing.
“I’m just not comfortable talking about Carlton right now, especially over the phone.”
“Like maybe Saturday, when I’m visiting Hawkins again?” he added, leaning into the wall, trying to pull himself back together. “I can explain everything then.”
Talking in person felt safer to Will. Plus then he would be able to figure out what to say without fully breaking down.
“Yeah, of course,” Mike replied.
A sense of dread immediately followed the excitement.
Mike then realized seeing Will again meant him being vulnerable too.
He stared at the phone for a second like it had changed weight in his hand.
He could hide stuff from him on the phone, but if he did the wrong thing in person there was no turning back.
“What if Will finds out I want to be more than best friends and doesn’t feel the same way?”
“What if everyone finds out I like guys?”
“What if everything goes wrong?”
The thoughts swirled through his head, faster now, but he pushed them away. Right now, all that mattered was helping Will.
“Mike…”
“Hello? You there?”
Will’s voice jolted him back to reality.
Mike blinked, realizing he’d gone quiet for too long.
“Yeah, sorry. Just thinking.”
Mike brushed off his thoughts, knowing that his feelings were the least important problem at the moment.
“Oh. Okay. Thank you, though.”
There was a small pause again, softer now, less sharp than before.
“So, my place? Maybe you could come over for dinner?” Mike asked awkwardly, shifting slightly where he sat.
“Yeah, that works. See you Saturday.”
Will felt a sense of relief. He wouldn’t have to deal with Carlton, and he’d get to see Mike again.
“Hey, be safe tonight. And if you ever need to call again, I’m here for you. Always.”
Mike stared at the wall as he said it, hoping Will would actually believe him.
“Thanks, Mike. I feel like talking in person is going to help a lot more.”
Will tried to end the conversation, though being that vulnerable with his best friend left his emotions tangled.
Best friend.
Will stared at the ceiling.
After all these years, he still wasn’t sure how he could be anything more than just a best friend.
Will ended the call and placed the phone back on the hook.
His hand lingered there for a moment longer than necessary.
“Why can’t I just talk to him like a normal person?”
His voice echoed through the walls of the apartment.
After a moment he slowly walked to his bed.
But sleep didn’t come easily.
Not after that call. It stayed repeating in his mind all night long.