𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 ~ 𝐛𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐫

4

Two days later, Will woke up to his mom standing over him.

"Happy birthday my beautiful boy!" She said before hugging him. Will smiled.

"Thank you." He responded.

"Hop, Jonathan, Nancy, and El already finished setting up your party in the backyard, so hurry up and get dressed!" His mom said, way too excited.

After he got dressed, got wished happy birthday by everyone who was already at his house, and ate his birthday breakfast his mom made for him every year, the other guests started arriving for his party. The first person to arrive being Mike, Will saw him walking up the driveway and immediately told his mom he forgot something in his room. He paced back and forth in his room, just trying to calm himself down a bit. He heard a knock on his door, and was glad when it wasn't who he thought it was.

"Will? It's me El." She said. Will opened the door, trying to seem as calm as possible.

"Hey, whats up?" He asked.

"Mike was wondering where you are. Are you okay?" El replied, and just like that all his hope was gone.

"Oh, uh, I'm trying to find something." Will responded.

"Okay, I'll send him up." El said, running downstairs before Will could even say anything. Will decided he might as well go downstairs and face doom. He began walking down the stairs as Mike was about to go up, so they met in the middle.

"Happy Birthday, Will!" Mike said excitedly. Will gave an awkward smile.

"Thanks." He said in an awkward tone. They both stared at each other in silence.

"Oh, yeah! Almost forgot." Mike said as he began digging is his pockets, he held out something in his hand for Will with a proud smile. "Ta-da!" He said. Will looked down to see a bracelet.

"A bracelet?" Will asked in confusion.

"Yeah! It's a friendship bracelet. It has both our favorite colors, blue for me and yellow for you." Mike responded, smiling as he pointed out the features in the bracelet. "And it has the letter W, but when you turn it upside down it makes the letter M, you know for both of our names. I have a matching one too." He rambled on as Will just stared at him. This was actually really thought out for it being Mike.

"Wow, that's cool." Will said smiling. Mike grabbed Will's hand and started putting the bracelet on him, Will was still just staring at Mike as his heart pounded. Mike then proudly put his wrist next to Will's to show his matching one.

"Do you like it?" Mike asked. Will smiled.

"Of course I do. Thanks." Will replied. Mike smiled.

"You're welcome, now come on!" He grabbed Will's arm and pulled him outside where his birthday party was. Lucas, Dustin, and Max came to wish him happy birthday and hug him, Mike still staying put next to Will. Max noticed the anxious look on Will's face, and decided to come to his rescue.

"Hey, Mike, can I steal Will from you for a sec?" Max asked. The boys gave each other looks of confusion.

"Uh.. sure?" Mike responded. Max linked elbows with Will as they walked away.

"God I don't know what to do, Max." Will started, "He gave me a gift that actually had some thought to it."

"What'd he get you?" She asked. Will held up his wrist as she inspected it.

"He even figured out that if you turn my initial upside down it makes an M for Mike." Will started, "I mean, it doesn't seem hard to figure out but I had never thought of that."

"Jeez, it even has you guy's favorite colors." Max responded. "But he said it was a friendship bracelet, right?"

"Yeah, so that's a good thing." Will said, "Right? Like that's a good sign?"

"You're overthinking it. Of course that's a good sign, if you really want to get over him, that is." Max said.

"Yeah, you're right." Will said. "Okay, lets go rejoin the group so no one gets suspicious." Max and Will laughed a bit before going back and joining their friends.

The rest of the party was what you'd expect from an 17th birthday party. Everyone talking and laughing, eating delicious cake and other foods, the Happy Birthday song being sung as Will sat there awkwardly, and Joyce giving a teary-eyed speech that Will rolled his eyes at but still kind of felt emotional after. Once the party was over, Joyce and Hopper cleaned up while everyone began saying their goodbyes and leaving. Will noticed Mike approaching him, he hadn't really talked to Mike most of the party, and kind of felt bad about it too.

"Hey uh, I know it's late, but uh, I was wondering if you would like to go for a bike ride with me? Like, some place fun?" Mike asked. Will thought about it, though it was already 8 PM and he didn't really want to spend time with Mike, he hadn't really been on his bike in a while.

"Sure, where to?" Will asked. Mike smiled, getting back his over excited nature when Will agreed.

"It's a surprise." Mike said. He pulled Will by the arm to his garage, and grabbed his bike.

"Wait, what about my bike?" Will asked.

"Well, I was thinking we could ride together this time, just so we don't have that much to carry around." Mike said. Will rubbed his arm nervously before hesitantly agreeing. Mike smiled as he got on the bike, Will awkwardly sitting behind him. Mike pulled Will's arms so they were around his waist, before turning to look at Will. "Hold on tight." He said before he began moving the bike down the driveway. Will tightened his wrap around Mike's waist and closed his eyes, putting his chin on Mike's shoulder.

"I can't believe I'm gonna die on my birthday." Will said quietly. Mike overheard and giggled.

"You'll be fine, you have room back there and I'm pretty good at riding bikes." Mike responded.

"Are you sure about that?" Will asked.

"Totally. If you fall, I fall." Mike responded with a smile. Will smiled back. He took the rest of the trip just to enjoy this moment. This was the closest he could ever get to Mike without it feeling weird for both of them. Although he was trying to let go of his feelings for Mike as best as he could, he knew these feelings would never go away. As much as he wanted them to, they never would go away. And because of how much Mike would find any way to spend time with Will,

they never could go away.

To be continued..