When It's Cold ; Byler

Chapter 8: A lead

                                  Will Byers
    Wheelers Residence / THURS June 16th / 8:33 AM

Will could hardly stay asleep last night.

Mike. Mike was going to be the death of him. Surely. He couldn't be more confused. Mike's head resting on his shoulder. It had taken all his power to not play with the other boys curly hair. Or to rest his head on top of Mikes.

Mike was making Will a mess.

He was annoyed at how the simplest of  touches could destroy him.
He definitely has a problem.

How he fell asleep, soon feeling a light weight on his chest. How he woke to see Mike hovering over him. He thought he'd die right then and there.

How Mike had wanted him to stay twice, even after the boy's panic attack. He could tell Mike was embarrassed from it. He shouldn't be but if the roles were reversed he'd be embarrassed too.

That's the second time Will has seen Mike so breakable. First, when they had met a couple of years back in Kindergarten and now. Well maybe that's not the only two times; Mike and El have been acting weird lately.

He would make sure to not treat Mike differently though. He'd want it to be that way.

He looked around Mike's room just now noticing Mike's absence. He yawned and groggily slid himself off the bed. He combed a hand through his hair and trudged to the upstairs bathroom.

He looked at himself I'm the mirror and rubbed his eyes. He subconsciously picked up a yellow toothbrush sitting on the counter. Mike always has a spare toothbrush for Will, whenever he sleeps over. Though he never uses it because they hardly appear from the basement during regular sleepovers. He brushed his teeth, looking back at himself through the mirror once again. His face was pale, hair messy. He turned on the faucet and rinsed his mouth before splashing some cold water on his face to make him look more alive.

He finished up in the bathroom and started to head downstairs. He looked around the house, there was no one in sight. He guessed Mrs. Wheeler was out shopping, probably with Holly and Mr. Wheeler was at work. So where is Mike? He wouldn't have gone shopping.

Mike was probably downstairs and yep..he heard talking downstairs. Surely Mike wasn't talking to himself right? He opened the door to the basement and headed down the stairs.

He saw Mike and El sitting on the couch together, talking. Will caught it, the awkwardness between the two that showed only for a moment before El looked over at Will and any trace of it was gone. El raised a brow.

"Hi Will?" El said. Mike looked over at him, his eyes hooding. "Hey."
"What are you doing here, did you sleep over?" she asked, grabbing for Mike's hand.
"Ye-", he started but got cut off. "N-no! Ah- no.. Um I invited him..is that okay?" Mike said. Will furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah of course! Come sit with us," El said, patting the empty spot next to her, smiling.

Will walked over hesitantly, locking eyes with Mike who gave him a look. Will knew what he was trying to say.

"Will? Why are you in your clothes from yesterday?" El asked. He shrugged, staring at Mike, "I guess I just forgot to change." He smiled with his lips widely. "And your hair..Silly I think you forgot to brush it." El giggled. "Silly me, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night...tired," Will said, squinting his eyes at the boy next to El.

For the first few couple of minutes Will just sat there while Mike and El flirted. Was Mike ignoring everything that happened yesterday? Is he going to do anything about his and Lucas's fight yesterday?

He slumped back against the couch. On a usual occasion..he thinks, which he never thought would be usual, he'd mop about for third wheeling to the couple. But all he could think about was yesterday. Still didn't stop him from looking irritated as the couple ignored his presence.