????? (Completed)

The Clash album

Mike and Will have been planning the campaign all morning, Mike's mom occasionally bringing snacks.

"So, should we practice today?"

He knew Mike wasn't going to say no, but something was different with him, but he couldn't tell what. "Sure." he put down Will's illustrations and stared at him. "I think you should try and kiss me since you're the one kissing el." "R-right, okay." Mike leaned into Will gently, a big improvement. Will gently pressed into Mike.

And mike did something different this time, he grabbed his friend's face, gently holding him in place, Will felt himself getting swept up in it, leaning forward and moving closer, Mike stuck his tongue in Will's mouth and Will moved his hands to their comfortable spot in his hair. Mike moved his hands to the back of Wills's neck, and he leaned in further like actually, leaned into it. This surprised will mostly because it was different, it felt real, so they pulled away in silence. Will was worried because he liked it, not like before but really, genuinely loved it, and he couldn't see himself living through another kiss like that.

"So, you've gotten better at kissing, Mike.""Yeah, t-thanks." Will sighed. "Well, maybe you don't need to learn anymore." Mike snapped his glance onto Will, "Wait, no." Will turned in confusion "no?" "Yeah no, I still need practice." The lie was so obvious even Mike couldn't take it seriously. "Okay then." Will stared at him, trying to figure out why this obvious lie was happening. But mike was already back to writing his campaign notes.

"Mike! I'm going downtown do you want to go to the arcade?" Mike glanced over to check his friend's reaction, as expected, an excited smile was slowly forming. "Yeah, hang on!"

Will quickly tied his shoelaces, and ran downstairs, with mike following.

Soon enough they arrived, with some money from Mrs. Wheeler, they were determined to beat Max's score, they walked into the bright building, making their way towards the machine when that's when they bumped into someone. The sound of coins splattering all over the floor surprised them, Mike quickly got down to pick them up for the stranger.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" until Mike looked up and saw...Eleven? "El?"  "Mike?" Will awkwardly glanced between them before swiftly stepping away. he made his way towards the game. Some random guy was already playing so he decided to wait next to them. "Hey, just waiting for my turn." He awkwardly said. "Oh no problem." The kind stranger said. Will glanced over to Mike and El, he immediately regretted seeing the argument spark up again. deciding not to fall back into that rabbit hole, he would rather have and awkward conversation with a stranger. "So, my name is Will." The stranger nodded in response, concentrating. "Cool, I'm mason." "You know this game has two player, right?" 

"Alright let's do this." He ended a Dig Dug round and set it to two player. They each moved in sync, finding gems and reviving each other. eventually they died, but after a few tries they beat MADMAX high score resulting in cheering. Will turned to see Mike, probably yelling at Eleven outside. "Hey, I've still got money left, you wanna get some sodas?"

Fifteen minutes later, they were at a table eating pizza and laughing. It turns out mason was actually a pretty nice guy; he even liked the same music as him. They were in the same grade, but he never met him before. "Yeah, I actually have a drum set at my house, I'm not that great at playing it but you should come over." Will grinned. "Really? That sounds awesome." mason looked around. "Did you come here by yourself?" Will turned to see Mike finally entering the arcade, annoyed. "My friend is here, just busy." "...anyway, what's your favorite subject?"

"El, I don't want this, you should just go home."

"No, Mike, you don't tell me what to do."
Irritation was thick in the atmosphere.
"Fine! Get in trouble if you want, but this is stupid!" "What is stupid? This argument? This relationship?" Mike's face scrunched up.
"You know what, whatever."  He stormed back into the arcade to see his friend hanging out with someone, giggling and chatting. And for some reason it made him feel worse.