10 years

1984

The past year had been... eventful, to say the least. First of all, Will was gay. A fact he knew for sure, but wasn't ready for anyone to know. Second of all, the boy he liked, the one he'd liked since they were in kindergarten, had a girlfriend. He was also 100% sure that he saw Will as a brother. I mean, everyone else saw him a Mike as brothers. Not made any better by the fact that their siblings were dating. But it's not like it would be weird if Mike and Will actually dated, they had been friends for longer than Nancy and Jonathan were. But it's not like Mike would ever choose Will over, her. But they had no real connection, all they had ever done is kiss. But then again, at least she's actually kissed him. A thought that Will couldn't get out of his head as he made his way into the kitchen that day. The floor was cold, something he had never minded before, but now he hated it. All he could think of as his feet hit the cold floor was 'he likes it cold'. A thought, that never left him for a second.

Mike was on the phone to El, so he was too distracted to go to the door when the bell rang. But Jonathan was greeted with a nice kiss from Nancy. Which just made Will think more about how hard his life would be as he walked down to the basement. When he got there, Mike was just hanging up, he was kinda mad but all of that was forgotten when the raven haired boy turned around and gave Will a smile. The smile that made him weak at the knees. 'Hey' the smaller boy said calmly, even though he was certain that he had just turned 50 shades of red. Mike gave him another smile 'Hey'. It was slightly awkward, but Will just had to calm himself down, 'its just Mike' he thought to himself 'just because you're gæ and in love with him doesn't mean you can be an idiot'. That kind of calmed him down. Until he realised that they were still stood awkwardly. So he sat down, which made Mike realise that he was still stood up too, so he also sat down. 'So' Mike said awkwardly 'Wanna do something?'. Will shrugged his shoulders. And Mike just nodded 'Cool'. Then it was back to silence. A silence, that if it would have happened 2 months earlier, would have been ok. But things were different now. Mike suddenly had a thought 'I could go get Holly and we could teach her how to play D&D'. Will smiled and nodded 'Ok'. The raven haired boys face lit up 'Ok cool, I'll go get her'. Will stood up 'No it's fine I'll get her, she prefers me anyway'. The raven haired boy gasped but Will ignored him and started making his way upstairs to get Holly.

She was surprisingly good at D&D for a 4 year old. Which, for once, made the boys sad when dinner was ready. Their Christmas dinners were always awkward, silent and weird, for everyone else, but for the boys it was a good source of entertainment. Something they could laugh about in later weeks. But this year, it wasn't silent. And Ted was actually awake. Which was a first. Holly decided to tell everyone how to play D&D, something that Mike and Will had tried to do many times, but somehow Holly got everyone to listen. Even though she wasn't doing a very good job at it, it still made the boys happy that she had actually listened. So, while she was talking Will turned and looked at Mike. He gave him a small smile. Which gave Mike butterflies in his stomach. More so than El ever had. Causing some confusion to the boy, 'thats never happened before' he thought 'that's never happened before' he repeated in his head 'has that never happened before?' He asked himself. He was sure it hadn't, but he couldn't be 100% sure. So he sat in silence, watching his little sister talk utter nonsense about D&D, thinking about Will. Completely forgetting that he had a girlfriend.

A few hours later, Mike had completely forgotten about what he felt at dinner. The boys were just back in the basement, alone, with no chance of being able to go and get Holly as she had gone to bed. So they actually had to face the awkward silence this time. They were just talking about frogs, so naturally Mike said 'El didn't know what a frog was the other day, so I had to explain it to her. It was so adorable'. Will suddenly went silent and put his head down. Mike noticed and put his hand in the smaller boys shoulder 'You ok?'. The smaller boy nodded. But Mike didn't believe him 'What's wrong?'. Will looked up into the raven haired boys dark, beautiful eyes 'I know it sounds stupid, I just don't want to be completely abandoned for her'. The tall boy looked back at Will 'It's not stupid, and that's not gonna happen'. Will looked at him sternly 'Promise?'. Mike rolled his eyes jokingly 'Yeah. If I abandoned you who would I go crazy with'. Will laughed 'Don't joke!'. The raven haired boy put on a serious face 'I'm not joking. You really expect me to go crazy with someone who didn't know what a frog was?'. Will smiled 'Please tell me you told her you were a frog'. Mike gasped 'No but I should have'. The boys broke down with laughter. And all feelings of romanticness where forgotten. For a few hours.

An hour later, Nancy and Jonathan were walking in after going for a walk. 'I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised if there was something more than a friendship going on between Mike and Will' Nancy said as they walked in. Jonathan rolled his eyes 'And I'm just saying that I don't see it'. But the conversation was interrupted by Joyce 'It's time to go, can you go tell Will? We don't wanna wake Holly up'. Jonathan nodded and him and Nancy went down to the basement. They were full expecting to see Mike and Will awake, but instead they were asleep in El's den. And cuddling. Nancy looked at Jonathan and said 'Tell me I'm wrong JONATHAN'. Jonathan ignored her and walked over to the boys, tapped Will on the shoulder and said 'Come on bud, it's time to go'. Will opened his eyes and nodded, he then sat up, rubbed his eyes and said to Mike 'Bye'. Mike, still asleep, turned around, gave Will a half hug and muttered 'Bye bye '. Causing Will to blush and Nancy to give Jonathan a look. Jonathan and Will then left the basement, with Nancy a bit behind them. But she could have sworn she heard Mike murmur 'Love you Willy'.

-authors note-
Ok I just realised that this is the last part with the Byers in Hawkins and now I'm sad. But also ✨Jancy✨.

15th December 2020
1198 words