we fell in love in december~byler

friends don't do the things we do

Mike's P.O.V

Just me and Will this weekend. This would be interesting. Right now we are riding to my house. I was so excited that we were off school I couldn't stop talking about it. "We get two weeks off and Christmas is coming up! We can hangout on Christmas Day too and play with all our new toys! Oh, s-sorry. That made me sound like a 7 year old." I said. Smooth one, Mike. "No it's okay. I like toys too." Will smiled. There was that smile again. It was silent for a little while until Will spoke up. "So, what's going on with you and El? You said we could talk about it after school." I totally forgot about our conversation this morning. Did I really want to tell Will that I didn't feel the same way about El anymore? "Oh yeah uhm. I don't know. I guess I don't really like her like I used too. I mean yeah she's pretty and sweet but, it doesn't feel the same anymore." I said. Will was looking down the whole time. "Please don't tell her. I am planning on letting her know soon. I just don't know how to yet." I said. Will was still looking down. "Your secrets safe with me." He spoke. We arrived at my house and laid our bikes in the front yard. I was very excited.

We were in my room, sitting on my floor and skimming through a comic. "You wanna go watch a movie?" I asked, trying to make things more interesting. "Sure! Sounds fun." Will said. I stood up and opened my door. We both hurried downstairs. My mom and dad were at work and like Will said earlier, Nancy was with Jonathan. Holly was at the sitter. I kneeled down next to the DVD player and Will sat down on the couch. "Is Mr. Mom okay?" I asked and he nodded. I joined him on the couch and the movie started playing. I had a blanket over top of me and noticed Will was shivering a couple feet away. "You can come sit under the blanket, ya know?" I said, feeling my face turn red the second the words came out. Will looked over and opened his mouth, "No it's okay. I don't want to be annoying." He let out a breathy laugh. "Okay well if you won't come over here, then I guess I'll have to come over there." I stood up and walked to Will's side of the couch. I sat down and laid the blanket over both of us. He smiled. I smiled too. A little while went by and the movie was finally over.

"It was kind of weird. What Dustin and Lucas said earlier." Will said quietly. I could feel my face heating up. "Well gosh Mike. No need to turn into a tomato." He said. Did he really want to play that game? "What was that, Byers?" I asked in a playful way. "I said-" before he could finish I started tickling him. "Mike stop! Please!" Will was laughing so hard. He was squirming like crazy too. "Who's the tomato now?" I laughed. "Okay! Okay! Me! Now please stop!" He begged. I stopped tickling and Will stopped squirming. His head was propped up on the arm of the couch and his legs were over top of mine. He crossed his arms over his chest. "You're such a butthead." Will said and playfully pouted. "Ohh cmon, you know you love me." I said without hesitation. I really shouldn't have said that. I didn't know how Will was going to react. He looked at me and I looked back. His expression looked confused and then he started laughing. "Be careful. You don't want to flirt with your best friend do you?" Okay now that was uncalled for. I wasn't flirting with him was I? I mean maybe regular friends don't do this but it's just the bond me and Will have. We're super close. Our friendship isn't like others. I mean even if it was flirting, I didn't mind doing it. Holy shit. I just told myself I didn't mind flirting with Will Byers. Mike what the hell? Your supposed to love El, not your best friend! Maybe Lucas and Dustin were right. Maybe I do like Will.

Will's P.O.V

We were both sitting up right on the couch now and I felt bad for what I had said earlier. I was only trying to joke around with Mike but I think he took it seriously. "You know I was just joking right? When I said you didn't want to flirt with me. I know you weren't flirting and I know you don't like me. I'm sorry." I looked over at Mike. He was looking down at his feet. It was a little while before he said anything. "No, no it's alright but, do you think they're right?" I was afraid he would ask that question. "What do you mean?" I asked. In reality, I knew what he meant. I was just trying to avoid the question for as long as possible. "Well you know how we are. Our friendship is, well, stronger than most I would say. Maybe sometimes we are flirting with each other? We just don't notice cause we think it's normal."

I took a big gulp. What was I supposed to say? Half the stuff we did probably wouldn't be accepted as 'just friends' but it's not like I was the only one doing it. Mike initiated most of our 'more than friends' moments. Like when he said we can go crazy together or when he held my hand that one night in my room. He held my hand. I would never have the guts to do that. Mike always did stuff like this though. Which is why part of me has a little hope that he might like me back. Then the other part of me knows that people hate other people for being gay. It wasn't common and not many were accepting of it. Mike knows that and he probably didn't think it was normal. He would probably hate me if I told him my biggest secret. "Do you think it's wrong?" I blurted out. God why did I say that? Of course he thought it was wrong. "I don't think it's wrong to be gay or anything like that but, I don't think 'just friends' do the things we do." Phew, he didn't think it was wrong. I probably will still not tell him for a while but at least I know he wouldn't hate me for it. He was right though. 'Just friends' didn't do the things we did.

Mike's P.O.V.

Where was I even going with this conversation? Like seriously, what was my plan? "Okay then maybe we should stop?" Will said, he sounded confused. "No!" I yelled. I could feel my face heating up. What the hell, Mike? Why did you yell like that? I didn't know why I yelled like that. Will looked shocked. Maybe I just didn't want to stop doing the things we did. I liked holding Will's hand and I liked cuddling with him. Holy shit. I admitted two things to myself in that moment. Number one; I liked a boy. Number two; that boy was William Byers.

"I mean I don't want to stop doing that stuff. It calms me down whenever I hold your hand and brightens my mood whenever we cuddle. However, do you really think that if people knew about those things, they would accept it as just friends?" I said trying to make as much sense as possible. It was getting hard. I was trying to tell Will the truth but I was scared. "No they probably wouldn't but what do you want to do about it? You don't want to stop doing those things but it's not like we like each other or anything." Mike felt a sting in his chest. Like he had just been punched right in the heart. Will didn't like him. He just admitted that. "Yeah y-you're right. Maybe we should just stop doing all that stuff. Is that... okay?" I asked while forcing a smile. Will looked disappointed and focused his eyes on the floor. "Yeah, yeah that's fine I guess."

Neither of them knew how much the other didn't want to stop doing the 'more than friends' things. I guess that's just something they'll have to figure out themselves.