Salt To The Wound (A Stranger Things Story)

Season 5- Chapter 11: Huge Secret (Mike's POV

Mike was keeping something from Will regarding college. Although Will was going to North Carolina, Mike had plans to go somewhere entirely different. He wanted to go to Hawaii one of the reasons being, he loved the whole idea, the other reason being, he has a college there he'd like to attend. The whole issue was, they'd be 9 hours away from each other.

Mike still fully believed that they'd be able to last throughout the 4 years that'd they be apart, considering Mike felt he'd travel the entire world even if that meant he'd only see Will for a week or two. So he wasn't really worried about that, he was worried about how Will would react to it. He has told Will he would go with him on multiple occasions and in all the time he'd known Will, one of the things he hated the most was being lied to. Mike was scared and he knew the longer he'd waited, the worse the response would be. At least if he had a bad response now, Mike still had a couple of months to fix everything.

He wanted input from his friends and El didn't help. He was also distant from everyone else besides her and Will, and Will wasn't an option. So he resulted to Karen, which seemed like his only option. Surprisingly, she wasn't all homophobic and hating toward him, she was excited. Apparently, she did change, but he was hesitant, as he should be. She wanted to plan the wedding as fast as possible, and she reassured him that Will wouldn't mind the whole time difference and how'd far the two would be. He wanted to believe that she grew and the time apart let her finally come around to Mike's sexuality but at the same time, you never forget those hurtful things, especially if it's someone close to you. After all, you can only get betrayed by those you keep close to you.

He tended to try and avoid Will because he wasn't good at keeping secrets, and he never was. He had to at some point and he just knew Will would have a bad reaction but he didn't know how. It seemed easier to just keep quiet but he had a deadline he was approaching, considering it was almost their 3rd anniversary, and what kind of boyfriend would he be if he ignored him on that day? He mentally prepared himself for that time, but that just seemed impossible.

Their anniversary was tomorrow and Mike was lost. He didn't know I'd he should propose now or just wait till after college so that was getting to him. Otherwise, he had gifts and everything, a dinner too, but he needed to figure the main event out and he had no time either. He was afraid of rejection, they were just 18, approaching 19, and maybe Will wasn't ready to take that next step in their relationship, it was a huge step.

He asked El and Karen, El didn't know, considering she has never been in this situation. Mike's parents also got married when they were 18 and he saw how the relationship between the two was, he didn't want him and Will to end up like those two. That was also a driving factor in why he was contemplating so hard about this.

That same day, he decided to get input from Joyce, she was extremely wise. If anyone knew what to do, it'd be her, and at the same time, he could also ask her if he was allowed to marry Will, she could be old-fashioned. The only issue, was there was like a 99.9% chance Will was in the house as well, and he had been trying to avoid him.

When he arrived at the house, lucky for him, Will was out at the store picking up something. And so that made it so much easier, he smiled at Joyce and she smiled at him back.

"What brings you here Mike? Will's not here," Joyce said and he looked at her. "I want to marry your son, but there are factors," he said blatantly and she nodded. "What are the factors?" Joyce asked and he exhaled. "We aren't going to the same college, I'm going to one that's 9 hours away from where he's going, and on top of that, he doesn't know, and we are still young," Mike said and Joyce nodded. "Shoot your shot, he's going to say yes, he loves you more than anything, and those four years will feel like nothing, you two are soul mates," Joyce said and Mike smiled widely. "Thank you, I needed to hear that," he said and then the two hugged.

Mike usually had Holly with him at the cabin on weekends because he couldn't do much during school days. Usually, he had tons of homework, but he missed his baby sister, and he fought to make sure he could see her. Before he left the house, he visited Holly, they hugged for an eternity before one let go. They then hung out for a little while before Mike left, trying to make sure be did before Will came back.