NEW IN TOWN - BYLER

CHAPTER 8

   Sunday, The Byers House, 4:00 pm

"It's open!" El yelled as she heard knocking on her door. "Hey, El. Can I borrow some nail polish?" Will asked in a slightly higher voice than normal. "Yeah, sure." She said, looking up from whatever book she was reading. As she was rummaging through her different nail polishes she looked at the doorway to find Mike standing there. She looked back at Will and gave him the "ohhhhhh" look. Will nodded and looked back at Mike, "What color do you want, Wheeler?" Will asked. "Black is fine." Mike smiled. When Will turned back to El, she gave him the  look. "What?" He whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. "He obviously likes you, dummy" She whispered back. "Whatever, El." He rolled his eyes, grabbing a bottle of nail polish. 

"Come on, nerd." Will said, dragging Mike into his room. "What do you wanna listen to?" Will asked, putting whatever vinyl he was listening to before. "Anything's fine." Mike smiled, sitting on Will's bed. "Gives me a lot to work with, Wheeler." Will laughed, sitting across from Mike. Will opened Spotify and shuffled his playlist, smiling as the song, See You Again by Tyler, the creator and Kali Uchis, started to play. 

"Gimme your hand." Will said as he hummed along to the melody. Mike put his hand in Will's and watched him begin painting his nails. "How are you so good at this?" Mike asked. "I literally just started." Will replied. "Still." Mike said. "Well, El taught me everything I know." Will laughed. "His laugh is adorable." Mike thought to himself. "I like you laugh." He said, thinking out loud. "What?" Will looked up, flustered. "Uh, I said, I like you laugh." Mike repeated. "I like yours too, Mike." Will complimented before going back to painting Mike's nails. 

Mike partially tuned out everything and started listening to the song. He smiled gto himself as he heard Will start to sing the chorus. "Can I get a kiss? And can you make it last forever? I said I'm 'Bout to go to war. And I don't know if I'ma see you again."  As the chorus repeated, Mike sing the background vocals. "Can I get a kiss?" Will repeated. "Can I?" Mike sung. "And can you make it last forever?" Will looked up and smiled. "Can you?" Mike leaned closer. Will rolled his eyes and looked back down at Mike's hand. 

Mike smiled and looked away from Will for a moment, noticing the light blue bottle of nail polish right next to him. "What's this for?" Mike asked, picking it up with his other hand. "Oh, I wanted to paint my nails too." Will smiled. "Can we match?" Mike blurted out, partially thinking out loud again. "Sure." Will said, taking the bottle out of Mike's hand and opening it. After opening it, Will painted a coat of the light blue nail polish on Mike's middle finger. "There. I'll paint mine black." He said. Mike nodded and took a second to admire Will's features, how his hair was just the right amount of messy, how his freckles were perfectly splattered all over his face, how his eyelashes were the perfect length, how he was just....perfect. 

Mike decided to look away before Will noticed him staring. He looked around Will's half decorated room, noticing all the painting and drawings. "Did you make those?" He asked "yeah most of 'em" Will said, resting Mike's freshly painted hand back on his legs. "Wow, really! That's so-" Mike was cut off, "Do not move your hands." Will said. Mike laughed and lowered his hand. "But, really, those are amazing." Mike said, focusing on Will again. "Thanks." Will smiled.