a little more ✩ byler

XIII. Thanksgiving

Days passed and the boys didn't encounter each other once. Will stayed downstairs in the basement, Mike stayed locked in his room. Today would be the first time that Mike and Will would see each other since they're argument. Today was Thanksgiving, and they had to be nice to each other whether they liked it or not.
Joyce and Karen spent their whole day cooking and cleaning the house for the big family dinner they had planned. Nancy and Jonathan went to the store to buy all the ingredients for the desserts, and Hopper and Frank sat on the couch and watched TV. Mike was upstairs in his room getting dressed, and Will was doing the same, except he was in the basement. Both boys were getting dressed up for the family dinner since they knew both of their mom's worked hard on it.
Once Will was ready, he walked up the basement stairs and opened the door. As soon as he opened the door he encountered Mike. Mike was on his way to the living room, and the basement door happens to sit right where Mike's destination was.
"Hey Will. You look nice" Mike said
Will just looked at him and pushed past him to get to the kitchen. Mike scratched the back of his head and changed his mind about sitting in the living room. Hopper watched the scene, and watched as Mike turned around and went back up the stairs to his room. No one knew what happened between the two boys. Mike and Will haven't spoken to each other in days and no one thought anything of it.
Will went out to the kitchen, leaving his short encounter with Mike behind him.
"Hi mom" He said
"Hi honey, you look nice" Joyce said
"why is everyone telling me i look nice" Will thought to himself. Will was wearing a button down, beige shirt with black pants. He wore white socks and didn't have shoes on in the house. He just brushed his hair as usual and he put on a small amount of cologne.
Mike on the other hand was wearing a plaid button down shirt with long sleeves and a paige of khaki pants. He was wearing high black shoes nvm socks and he also, wasn't wearing shoes in the house. Eleven didn't really have many nice items of clothing yet. She wore a light blue dress that used to belong to Nancy at a younger age.

Eleven, unlike Mike, apologized to Will for what she did. Will forgave her almost instantly because he knows that she doesn't think sometimes. Eleven and Will were extremely close now, Will wasn't going to ruin their friendship over a stupid boy.
"Hey Will." El said as she came prancing down the stairs in her new blue dress.
"Hi" Will said back. "You look really nice"
"Thank you, i don't have any dresses. This is Nancy's. Karen told me i was welcome to take her old clothes home with us." El said, sparking a conversation between the two.
"Hey i really think you should talk to Mike" She continued.
"Why?" Will asked, confused. "He told me we would never be a cou-" Will cut himself off because he didn't want anyone else hearing him talk about his feelings for Mike, ESPECIALLY Eleven.
"best friends again." Will continued.
"He's sad Will." El said with a pause. "He misses you"
"Maybe i'll talk to him after dinner i guess" Will said, finally feeding into El'a nagging.
The two continued to talk and pick at the food until eventually migrating to the living room to watch football on the TV.

It was a few hours until dinner and Mike finally emerged from his room a second time and made his way to the living room where the rest of his family and friends were sitting. Nancy, Jonathan, El, Will, Joyce, Hop and his parents were all there sitting on the floor and the couches. Mike walked into the living room and saw that the only empty seat was next to Will. Will looked up as Mike got himself comfortable, sitting on a spare couch cushion on the floor. This made all the color in Will's face drain.
"Maybe he doesn't want to fix things with me after all." Will thought to himself. He began to pick at his finger nails. The nail-against-nail scrapping caused Mike to look up and see the smaller boy chipping away at his nails. Almost as soon as Mike noticed, however, Karen called from the kitchen to tell everyone that their dinner was ready.

Dinner went on as usual. The two families talked about politics, football, and other adult stuff that the younger kids didn't understand. Will took notice of how little food Mike ate. Mike used the excuse "I'm not hungry" more than enough times around Will, which meant Will knew he was thinking about something. Mike left the table and went down the basement before dinner even finished. Will began to worry, so he quickly ate all his food and followed Mike to the basement.

"Mike?" Will said. "Are you down here?"
"Yeah, what's up" Mike said groggily, as if he has just woken up from a nap.
"Were you sleeping? I'm sorry i didn't mean to wake you up" Will said
"I was for a second, no big deal." Mike said as he pulled himself to sit up straight on the couch and swing his legs around, leaving room for Will to sit.
"Hey Will i uh, i really just want to say i'm sorry-" Mikes words were cut off by Will's lips meeting his. Will knew that Mike was sorry, he just couldn't stand to hear his apology right now. Instead, he kissed the taller boy to make him stop.
Will pulled away from the kiss and stared at Mike. Mike had a confused look on his face at first, but it soon turned into a smile. Mike held Will's cheeks and pulled him in for another kiss.
"I'm sorry too." Will said after pulling away. Will wrapped his arms around Mikes waist and pulled him into a warm hug. The two were back to normal, and Will couldn't be happier about it. Mike felt a wave of relief knowing that he hadn't messed up the best relationship he'd ever have. The two were finally happy.

Hi y'all, taking a short break from this story for a little bit. have a severe case of writers block right now. if you have any ideas for things you would like to see added into this story, don't be afraid to leave a comment! love and blessings. xx❤️

word count 1116