monochopsis - byler

love is a stupid word

(wills pov)

"You're what?" I yell. I can't believe my mom is dating the chief of police, AND he and his daughter have to live with us! That means I'm going to have to see her and mike kiss like five times more often. I just have to watch as I get third wheeled. 

"We are moving in together! I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. We've been dating for a few months and a tree fell on Jim's house." Joyce explains.

"Well where will they sleep?" I ask.

"Well Jim and I will share a bed and I think Jane can take Johns room." Joyce tells me.

"What if Johnathan needs somewhere to sleep?" I interrogate her. I didn't want Johnathan's room to be taken. Not by El.

"We have a couch he can sleep on." Joyce states. I know she's not trying to be mean. I still don't want the Hopper family here. "Also I know you hate that man, but you should visit your father sometime."

"Yeah whatever mom." I said before storming off to my room. I never wanted to see him again, yet my mom still insists I go visit him in jail.  I open my walkie talkie and prepare to talk to someone in the party. I haven't used this thing in a while, but I think it still works.

...

"Hello? Over." I say into the walkie talkie.

It takes a second for someone to answer. Then I hear Mikes voice speaking. "Hey Will, What's up? Over."

"Jane is moving into my house." I tell him angrily. "Apparently her dad is dating my mom! Over."

"What? You gotta be kidding right now Will! That's hilarious. Over." Mike laughs. 

"Nope. 100% facts. She's moving into Johnathan's room. Over." I say.

"Well wanna hang out? My walkie doesn't have much battery power on it right now. Over" Mike asks. He hasn't asked me to hang out since before I moved.

"Hell yeah!" I cheer. I don't think Mike has ever heard me curse before so it takes him a second to respond.

"I'm coming over now. Over and out!" He says. I close the antenna to the walkie. I flop onto my bed and wait about 15 minutes before the doorbell rings.

"I'll get it!" I yell and rush upstairs. I open the door to see a pair of deep brown eyes staring into my hazel ones. His beautiful curly raven locks were mostly tucked behind his ears. I wonder what his hair would look like up. Probably really pretty. He was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. 

"Well come in Mike!" I tell him.

"Oh right." Mike says. He closes the door behind him.

"Hello Mike!" El says. I hope she doesn't think he's here for her or else this hangout is going to be miserable.

"Hi" Mike waves before turning to me. "Uh I have no clue where your room is so I might need some directions."

"Of course! It's right down there actually." I say while pointing at the stairs to my room.

"Woah! You live down there? That's so cool." He exclaims. He actually sounded excited. 

I grab his hand and drag him downstairs. I know I shouldn't, but I smiled a little bit when I saw El frown. I just can't believe it's just me and Mike together, I don't have to third wheel my crush and my stepsister(?). The door gets closed behind us and he sits down on my bed. I just look at him before sitting down right beside him. Mike smiles at me and I try not to get flustered. 'Just kiss me Mike. Please just kiss me.' I think. 

"So, what's going on in your life" He tries to small talk. I might as well answer.

"Well I have a new job, One time I hung out with Max and Billy thought we were dating, El lives here now-" I start. I don't want to tell them about where I work my job yet because I don't want them to come in just to see me wear that dumb uniform.

"Wait Billy thought you and Max were dating?" Mike asks. 

"Yeah. I found her at the mall and I asked if she needed a ride home, and when I brought her home Billy said something about me being her boyfriend and she yelled at him." I explain.

"Cool. cool." Mike says. He pauses for a second so it is quiet "Do you think I could sleep over?" 

"Of course. You can call your mom upstairs if you need to, . I'll go bring the tv down here if you want to watch a movie." I say.

"Sounds good. I'm going to make popcorn too!" He says and we both go upstairs to get things.

...

I successfully brought the tv downstairs. When I came back up El was talking to Mike. 'Oh great' I think. Listening in wouldn't hurt. 

"Mike, I want to hang out with you." El says. 

"First of all El, I'm hanging out with Will right now. You are allowed to hang out with Max alone and sometimes I want to hang out with my friends too. Second of all, Hopper doesn't want me hanging out with you after 7." Mike explains. I'm happy he mentioned me in there too.

"Can we go on a date alone sometime though? I feel like you aren't hanging out with me as much. Like you don't love me as much." El says. I feel some weird feeling about their relationship. There are a few words I can use to describe it. Toxic is one. I feel like El is just a little bit possessive. I don't think I want to listen anymore, so I go back downstairs. 

...

Mike comes trotting down the stairs with popcorn and acts like I don't see the giant lipstick smudge on his cheek. He plops down on the bed next to me.

"Looks like you had fun." I tease. 

"Yeah yeah." Mike says.

"Well I still have to get the extra mattress, so I will be right back!" I say hopping up.

"Actually Will uh- we don't need to get it. I know it's kind of heavy so we can just share." Mike offers before I can get the mattress. I would've thought he would think it was childish, but he seemed like he didn't want me to get it. Maybe this was because he still felt sorry for the other day?

"That's fine with me! Just don't take all the blankets off of me Michael." I joke.

"Aw, fine." Mike whines jokingly. It's not like I'm wrong, he used to just rip the blankets off of me in the middle of the night sometimes when we were kids. I couldn't ever get them back from him, even when I tugged as hard as I could.

I walk over to my dresser and take a container off of the top of it. There was a selection of movies in there that were gifts from John or my own personal choices. I bring them over to Mike. 

"Pick your poison sire." I say in a cocky and horrible accent. 

"Okay first of all, never use that voice again! Second of all, lets do Karate Kid!" Mike ponders. This is probably going to suck because I think Ralph Macchio is pretty cute and Mike doesn't know I'm actually gay so I can't look too invested. But I mean look at him!

 I turn on the movie and lay down next to Mike. The movie is pretty good, I think Mike is enjoying it. That's one of the things that matters most to me. God I love him. I can't though, that's El's job. I'm not his. These thoughts end with me falling asleep towards the end of the movie.

(mikes pov)

Will fell asleep. I really want to hug him. Hold him in my arms until I pass out. I wish I could think that it wouldn't hurt, but with how at least half the Hawkins populations brains are built, this could go very badly. 'Fuck it' I think. If I get lectured about it I can always lie. I scoot near him and wrap my arms around his waist. It's cold and these blankets aren't enough, don't make it weird Mike!

1356 words total

a/n: all my slowburns crash and burn so i decided against it. also mike and el are still together so if they even get together, we have to wake up and break up first.