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one.
Mike Wheeler did not classify himself as a hopeless romantic. Whenever he and his close-knit friend group would watch movies and the main characters would inevitably get together, he would be happy for them, but never really saw the joy in falling in love.
And he wanted to keep that thought until he hit High School. Somehow, during the first semester, all of his friends got into a relationship. (Granted most of those relationships were just them finally realizing the feelings they had since they were too young to understand what they meant.)
Deep down, Mike was a little jealous.
The fact that everyone around him was constantly gushing about their partner made him feel excluded. He was happy for them, of course. But the feeling in the pit of his stomach never went away.
Mike set himself up at the regular lunch table, smiling and laughing at his friends.
It must have taken them a second to notice him because when they did, Dustin banged the table so hard, a closed pudding flew up into the air.
“Jesus! What was that for?” Mike scolds across the table, holding his water down in case that happened to be the next thing tossed up.
“Did you see the letter that was waiting for you?”
This intrigued the rest of the group, their eyes all turning to him. “Yeah! It was here when we got here.”
“We didn’t even see who put it there!” Max says.
“They wanted to move it, but I told them not to.” El pipes up, looking up from her Chemistry notebook.
Max slaps El on the leg. “Don’t listen to her.”
Mike nods and looks down.
Sure enough, under where he had put his backpack on the seat next to him was a small parchment.
Slowly, he picks it up and gently sets it on the table.
Despite all the noise, it felt like he and the people at the table were the only ones in the world.
“How do you guys know it’s for me?” he questions.
El points to the front, which was facing the table. “You’re Wheeler.” she tells him simply.
“So is Nancy! Maybe this is for her.”
“Jonathan isn’t really into doing stuff like that, you know that. You’ve met him before.” El reminds him.
Mike nods, remembering the few interactions he had with Jonathan Byers. (The Byers family had adopted El before she and him became friends so sometimes when the group would hang out over there, he would occasionally see the older Byers brother.)
Slowly, he ripped open the parchment, his heart in his throat and palms sweating. “Can someone else see why it says? I feel like I’m going to puke.”
“No way!” Lucas tells him immediately, “If it’s for you and it’s what we think it is, it’s for your eyes only.”
“Fine, fine! You guys are the worst.”
Max throws some cold fries at Mike, “Hurry up. The bell’s going to ring soon and we have to go.”
Dustin, El and Lucas all nod and smile in agreement, throwing random encouragements out at him.
Mike pulled out a note, his hands shaking. His eyes scan it and he finds himself looking back at the group, flabbergasted.
“What? What is it?” Dustin questions eagerly.
“It’s.. it’s a love note.” Mike whisperers.
“What?”
“I said. It’s a love note.” he repeats, slightly louder. He turns the note and it’s content to the group.
i know you don’t know who i am, mike wheeler, but i know who you are. you’re different then the other people at this school, in the best way possible. and i, somehow, have been falling for you. which makes no sense. but i guess it’s true what they say. the heart wants what the heart wants.
There’s a few moments of silence before Max starts crying laughing. “Someone wrote you Mike Wheeler a love note! Who do you suppose it is?”
“It’s obviously a joke.” Mike tells them, “Which one of you did it? Come on, it’s okay, I won’t be mad.”
A silence falls over the group.
“You’re all going to be like that?”
“We seriously don’t know who put it there.”
“And besides, even if we did, we wouldn’t tell you.” Dustin tells him matter-of-factly, “Whoever they may be obviously didn’t want you to know it was them or they would’ve left a clue or something.”
“What am I supposed to do now? Just hope that they try to contact me again?”
The whole table nods. “Yeah, unfortunately. There’s nothing else you can really do for now.”
Mike groans, packing his stuff up. “I really want them to show themselves then. If they’re already so into me, for whatever reason, then we should meet somehow.”
“You’ll have to see how it goes.” Max tells him, “And of course, you’ll have to keep us posted.”
“Will I? Will I really, Mayfield?”
“Yeah Wheeler.” The bell rings, Mike flips Max off the party all walk out of lunch.
“Why am I taking Chemistry?” Mike whispers to himself, walking to the back of the school where the Chemistry classrooms are located.
(His original plan was to take Chem because El was taking Chem and he liked her before she came out as Aromantic/Asexual.
So now, he was stuck in the class and he wasn’t even in the same class as her so the logic fell flat.)
Mike walked into the Chemistry room to find his teacher looking at her seating chart.
“Oh hey! What are you doing?” he asks her.
“Assigning lab partners.” she answers, “Go on and stand in the corner with the rest of the class.”
Mike clicks his heels and stands with the rest of the class, anxiously waiting for whoever his lab partner for the rest of the semester was going to be.
“Alright alright! I know we’re all thrilled to get these partners, so let’s get into them.” she announces, “Will Byners you will be paired with… Mike Wheeler.”
“It’s Byers.” a quiet voice says nonchalantly.
“Okay, well, you know I’m talking about you so take a seat with Wheeler.”
Mike walks over to the table she pointed at, waiting for the source of the voice to appear.
“Hi,” a voice eventually says, “I’m Will. Will Byers. You're one of El’s friends right? Mike Wheeler?”
Mike nods. “Oh. Um, yes?”
“Are you sure?” Will questions, voice soft.
“Yes, I’m friends with El. Why?”
Will smiles to himself. “I’m her brother. I’ve seen you and her other friends around for movie nights.”
“Oh! You’re Jonathan’s brother?”
“I am, yes.” the younger Byers brother says, “I will say something about your friend group. One of them screams so high pitched sometimes. It kind of hurts my ears.”
“That would be Lucas.” Mike laughs, “Were you home when we watched Empire Strikes Back?”
Will laughs, “I was, yes! Why did he scream so loud?”
“We’re working on getting Lucas to watch the Star Wars movies for the first time… you’ve seen them, right? I don’t want to spoil anything.”
“You don’t want to spoil that Luke and Leia are twins?” Will assumes, a smile ghosting his lips
Mike nods. “Well Lucas didn’t know that!”
“No!” Will dramatically says, “Don’t tell me he shipped them! Please!”
“Oh he did. That’s why he screamed so loud.”
“Oh my God.” Will laughs, “That’s awesome.”
“We took a break from watching them for a week, he was so shocked. Poor thing.” Mike recalls, “You know, you could’ve joined us if you were home.”
“No. I mean, I didn’t want to butt in where I don’t belong is all. You guys are a solid friend group.”
Mike frowns. “Well, maybe you’ll see that you belong in our friend group, too. You never know.”
“Yeah, you never know.”
two.
Mike sat down at the lunch table two weeks after the first note, with a dopey smile planted on his face.
He knew for a fact that he had somehow managed to pass his Chem test and he was ninety percent sure another note was going to be waiting for him.
Mike sat down, smiling at his friends.
“Someone is on cloud nine today.” a familiar voice says next to him, “What’s got you in a good mood?”
“Will! What are you doing here?”
Will smiles at the joy. “El needed some help with Chemistry so I offered to help her our best I can.”
“I only passed the last test because of you,” Mike tells him, “so if anyone can help El pass, it’s you.”
A soft blush appears on Will’s cheeks but Mike doesn’t notice or comment on it, rather, he turns to the empty seat next to him, pulling a familiar parchment paper up.
“What’s that?” Will questions, looking over his shoulder.
“Oh! It’s, uh, nothing.”
“Don’t know if anyone has told you this, but you, Mike Wheeler, are a shit liar.”
“Thank you.” Lucas says, smiling, “I like this guy.”
“It’s a letter from my secret admirer. They’ve been sending me letters for the past few weeks. Although, they haven’t left any clues or anything so I’m just smiling like an idiot about them for now.”
Will nods, “Open it then!”
Mike smiles at him. “Don’t get too excited.”
it’s kind of been awhile since a proper letter, huh wheeler? i didn’t mean to leave you hanging for so long. i had some school stuff (and personal stuff) going on and didn’t have the chance to talk. i hope you’ve been good. something about me liking you is the fact that whenever i see you in the halls, i immediately smile. thank you for getting me through the tough stuff, especially recently. i needed it.
“Personal stuff.” Max says simply after reading.
Dustin poked over Mike’s shoulder. “I hope they’re okay. Personal stuff can be a lot of different things, especially in this day and age.”
“Yeah. Maybe they just saw a sad movie and aren’t over it yet.” He turns his attention to Lucas, “Or maybe they just found out Luke and Leia are twins.”
“WHEELER!” Lucas whisper-yells.
“Hey, you were the one that yelled.”
Max poked Mike in the shoulder with a flimsy cafeteria straw before he could pick up anything else the duo talked about. “Did you ever think about leaving them a note?”
“Excuse me?”
Max leans closer. “We’re the last lunch right? And the last class? Why don’t you leave a note? They might see it and then reply. The two of you could have a little note relationship for the time being.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! Especially if they already need you.”
Mike nods, turning to Will, who he already found himself finding comfort in. “What do you think?”
“About what?” Will chokes out between laughs.
“Me leaving them a letter after lunch.”
“Oh! Yeah, sounds like a good idea. Smart of Max to suggest it.” He says, “And Max could you please inform your boyfriend that just because I’m gay that doesn’t automatically mean I think Luke is hot?”
“But you do, right?” Lucas asks.
“I’m more of a Lando and Han guy, personally.”
Mike smiles at the reply. “Han is hotter.”
“Oh, be quiet. Last week you couldn’t decide if Marty McFly or his mom was hotter!” Dustin reminds him.
“They’re both attractive!”
Mike was never one for writing down his feelings, so naturally, after school that day, he went to Nancy.
He knocked on her door, a shy smile on his face.
“Mike? Do you need something?” she calls out, “I’m going to meet Jonathan at the movies.”
The door opens to reveal his sister, standing in front of two outfits laid out on her bed.
“Why are you getting dressed?” Mike questions, “Not like that before you question me! I just mean… movies are pitch black. He’s not going to see what you’re wearing.”
“You’ll understand when you’re in love.” Nancy replies, “Did you need something though? I am leaving soon.”
“Oh yeah. So I’ve been getting these… love notes… I guess… recently and—”
“You’ve been getting love notes?” Nancy interrupts, trying and failing to hold back a laugh.
Mike shrugs. “It surprised me too, anyway the point is that my friends think I should write them a letter saying thank you or something.”
“So Max thought of that idea?” Nancy inquires.
Mike nods. “And I’m not amazing at expressing my feelings, so I figured I would come see you.”
“I appreciate it, Mike.” his sister says. “What kind of things have they told you?”
“I don’t know who they are, their words not mine, and they’ve got some reason found themselves falling for me. And they see me everyday and seeing me in the halls makes their day easier. Especially recently. They’ve been going through some personal stuff.”
Nancy takes a moment to think of the response, but she can clearly see the suspense is killing her brother.
“Have they given you any clues? Maybe a gender?”
“Nope.”
(It wasn’t common knowledge that Mike was bisexual, he had only come out to the people closest to him, so he had kind of been assuming — not hoping — that it was some random girl.)
“Okay. Have you seen anyone suspicious?”
“Nope.” he replies, “You know the school. Nobody suspicious stays around for too long.”
“Has anyone recently come into your life? Maybe someone randomly trying to begin a friendship?”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“Taking that as a yes.” Nancy tells him. “It matters because maybe the person writing the notes is trying to have a friendship with you first. Maybe they don’t want to show themselves as the person behind the notes yet but they do want a healthy friendship.”
Mike gives the thought a few moments to bounce around.
“Who’s the guy?” Nancy questions.
“Why do you assume they’re a guy?”
“Because Max and El are your only friends who are girls and I can’t imagine you with more.”
“Will.” Mike tells her, “Your boyfriend’s brother Will.”
There’s a spark in her eye, as if she was remembering something that quickly vanished. “I think you should take Max’s advice and write them back. You could ask them questions… codenames… stuff like that. Start simple, okay? I have to go. I’m gonna be late.”
“O-okay Nance. Thanks.” Mike yells as she leaves the room, “Tell Jonathan I say hi!”
hi so, i’m just going to give this fair warning now. i’m not amazing at expressing feelings. so doing this over a letter is extremely awkward and definitely out of my comfort zone. it makes me really happy that you’ve found comfort seeing me around school. i know that you mentioned there was personal stuff going on and i hope that you’re okay. i know how tricky stuff can get. i know that i don’t know you, but i do want you to know i am here for you. if you ever need anything, i’m here. i know i don’t know who you are, but i do care about you a lot. i hope you know that.
three.
Mike Wheeler was beginning to understand the hopeless romantic mindset. At the same time, though, part of him felt guilty and hurt inside.
Rather than finding himself falling for whoever was writing the letters, he found himself falling for Will .
Which made no sense to him.
Sure, Will was beautiful, that was just an objective fact. And his smile made Mike feel like was on top of the world. And whenever the duo would go to the library to study after school, he would find himself watching the shorter boy.
Mike knew the way that his face—
Okay that’s enough, Wheeler. Get a grip.
Mike stormed into the cafeteria two days before Thanksgiving break and found the regular table, which was oddly quiet.
Max and Lucas weren’t giving each other crap, rather, they were sitting peacefully talking. Dustin was reading something that Mike assumed was assigned for English and El was sitting across from Max, eating an apple and studying.
“Guys?” Mike questions, sitting down. “Did I miss something?”
Max looks up first. “They left you a note.”
“And you guys aren’t eagerly awaiting my arrival so we can read it as a group?”
“It says ‘for your eyes only’ right on the front.” Dustin says, not looking up from his book, “We checked.”
“Same handwriting?”
“Same handwriting.” Lucas replies, “It must just be something they don’t want us to see.”
Mike nods, picking up the note. “I’ll be right back, then.” he tells them, taking his stuff and the note to the bathroom.
Mike Wheeler wasn’t one for spending lunch in the bathroom. He used to, in Middle School, sometimes. But High School hasn’t given him the chance yet. He stuck himself in a stall, closed the door and leaned against the wall, ripping open the parchment.
i hope that you’re alone reading this.
it’s not that i don’t love your friends, i just think that you need to read this note and it’s content alone.
for some reason, mr wheeler, you do give me middle child vibe which i think is funny because i’m not one to make assumptions like that. i hope your little sister has adjusted to school :)
okay now on to what you want. answers as to why we’re alone right now. i’ve found myself falling deeper in love with you, recently. i don’t know why. maybe it’s because i’m in a class with you and have the chance to see how you interact with other people. maybe it’s because i don’t have any real friends, so finding myself falling for you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. maybe i’m being dramatic, but i don’t think i am.
p.s i know you’ve been wondering. you can stop using gender neutral pronouns for me. my pronouns are he/him. i hope that’s okay.
Mike reread the letter so many times that the words got jumbled up and he found himself unsure if they were really words to begin with.
Not only could he finally use the persons pronouns, he also knew that for some reason, it’s not just a crush. Whoever this is, he’s in love with Mike.
Someone is in love with Mike and he has to—
There’s a sharp cry interrupting Mike’s thoughts.
He stuffs the letter in his back pocket, and grabs his backpack, exiting the stall.
Standing in the bathroom, or rather sitting , in the bathroom is none other than Will Byers.
His legs are pulled up to his mouth and he’s crying.
Mike feels his heart break as he gets down to his level, a face of genuine concern present.
“Will.” he says quietly, “Are you okay?”
There’s no response, just another sob.
“Will.” he repeats, “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
The younger Byers brother makes eye contact with him and Mike can see that his eyes are red and bloodshot from crying.
(Mike hated jumping to conclusions but he assumed that Will had fallen asleep crying and then hadn’t had the chance to make sure he looked okay.)
“I didn’t think anyone was going to be in here.”
Mike lets out a chuckle. “Nobody uses this bathroom, huh? The spooky scary ghost is here!”
Will gives him a weak smile. “Yeah. The ghost of 1985! If you piss him off, you’ll be haunted.”
“1985? What landed you there?” Mike questions, breathing in for two and out for two, hoping Will will copy his movements.
“Back to the Future!” Will exclaims, “Duh!”
Mike smiles at the excitement in his voice and then remembers that he found Will on the verge of a panic attack in the middle of the school bathroom. “Will, seriously though, are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” Will replies softly.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Why weren’t you at lunch?” he questions quietly.
“What?”
“Why weren’t you at lunch?” he repeats.
“Oh. I got a letter. It said I had to be alone to read it and I wanted to respect his wishes.”
Will smiles. “His? Are you… are you assuming?”
“No, he told me that his pronouns were he/him.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Pretty amazing! I mean, have you seen the guys that go to this school? They’re all… they’re all hot.” Mike looks from Will’s eyes to his lips, and hopes that Will either didn’t notice or doesn’t comment.
“I’m not included in that, am I?”
“What makes you think you wouldn’t be?”
“I’m not very hot as you say.”
“You are too! Don’t belittle yourself like that.”
Will smiles. “T..thank you. By the way, if you’re not going to go to lunch, please tell me.”
“Is that why…”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry, Will. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“It’s okay, we can’t really contact each other.”
Mike smiles, pulling out a pen and a piece of paper. “Let’s change that! Write your phone number.”
Will nods, taking the paper and scribbling his number. “Okay. There. And we’re lab partners so you can call me with questions now.”
“Exactly.” Mike tells him, “And we’re friends, too.”
There’s a glimmer of disappointment in his eyes that Mike can’t bring himself to comment on. The bell rings and before Mike has a chance to say anything, Will is already out the door.
He glances down at the paper in his hands and feels like his heart drops to the basement of the school.
Before he can wrap his head around the information that just flooded his brain, he pulls his phone out to see ten messages from the group chat, all asking about the note and what it said.
mike: my house. after school.
thing 1: so you ignore our messages and then appear acting like the world just ended?
Mike was not the type of person to pace.
He found the entire practice quite embarrassing and pointless. Nobody ever accomplished anything by pacing. Today felt like a day full of impossible things, so why not add Mike Wheeler pacing to the list?
The basement door creaked open and before Mike knew it, El, Max, Dustin and Lucas came running down like the stampede straight from The Lion King.
“El.” he says, jumping to the point, “Does your brother like anyone?”
“Jonathan is in love with your sister, but that’s common knowledge. They literally spend every day together.”
Mike huffs. “No no. Your other brother.”
“Oh! I don’t think so. He’s been kind of mellow and downlow lately, even around the house.”
“Is that weird behavior?”
El ponders this for a moment. “Actually, yeah. We had a movie night the other day and claimed to not feel good and didn’t want to watch it with us. I passed his room later and he was singing and talking to himself.”
“Mike, what does Will have to do with this?”
“I’m getting there Mayfield! Give me a minute.” Mike tells her, turning his attention back to El, “So Will doesn’t like anyone?”
“I don’t think so.” El replies, “Why do you ask?”
Mike walks to his backpack, pulling out Will’s note in one hand and holding a letter in the other. “Does this handwriting look similar at all to you guys?”
He flips them both around, covering Will’s name. He wanted this to be a completely blind experiment.
“Yeah? So?” Max speaks after a moment.
“What’s the big deal?”
“This note was written by my secret admirer.” he says, raising the note, “And this was written by Will.”
Silence falls over the group, and all Mike could hear (other than his heart beating) was the quiet drip of water in the corner from the leak his father never fixed.
“So you think Will Byers — El’s brother — is your secret admirer?” Dustin says after a few moments.
“Yes.” Mike replies simply. “And I need to know if I’m right because I’m already in love—”
Mike and the rest of the group glance at the steps, where none other than Nancy Wheeler is standing, hands on her hips.
“Sorry to interrupt. But you’re in love?”
“Your sister took the words right out of my mouth.”
Mike sheepishly nods. “I’m in love with Will Byers.” he immediately turns his attention to El, “I’m sorry if that’s weird for you… and I obviously don’t even know if he’s the one writing the notes. It’s just…”
“He’s writing the notes.” a new voice says.
“Jonathan?” Mike questions, looking at the base of the steps where Jonathan is standing, his head is resting on Nancy’s shoulder so he looks shorter.
“He’s writing the notes. I walked in on him a few days crying. He was panicking about a letter he was going to send. Something about how he revealed his gender and he was scared you’d hate him.”
“You knew?”
“I didn’t want to tell you before he got the chance.” Jonathan tells him, “He’s been in love with you for three years. He’s just finally doing something about it.”
“Three years? But I… we never…”
“I know you didn’t.” he says, “Trust me, I know. Will was so convinced you would never befriend him. Do me a favor, Wheeler? Just text him? Please. It’s been three extremely long years of him non stop pining.”
Mike awkwardly laughs and Jonathan turns to Nancy. “Well, my work is done, we should be going.”
four.
Mike Wheeler’s plan for talking to Will did not include leaving his house at three o’clock in the morning and biking his way to the ladder house.
Alas, that’s exactly what he found himself doing.
Mike knew the route to the Byers house by heart from all the times that he had visited El so biking there in the pitch black wasn’t that difficult. Plus, he had plenty of things that he could think about. Although, every time he found himself trying to think of what to say, it just got mixed up in his head so he decided it would be better to not do that.
He turned onto Will’s street and saw Mrs. Byers’ familiar car parked outside of the house. There was a single light on in the only room in the whole house Mike had never seen before - Will’s. He imagined the inside as he made his way to the window. For some reason, he always believed that Will was into the older genre of music, but secretly had a soft spot for newer stuff.
He ditched his bike below the window and tapped it with his pointer finger as quiet as he could. He knew that Mrs. Byers worked early mornings and late into the night, so he didn’t want to be rude since she had most likely just fallen asleep.
No reply.
So, he tapped again, hoping that he wouldn’t have to abandon his mission.
There was a soft creak that he could hear, it was most likely Will’s bed. He had really hoped he didn’t wake him up. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
The window opened the rest of the way and Will was giving Mike a sleepy smile.
“Mike? What are you doing here? It’s… three in the morning. Are... are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Mike shakes his head and examines the outfit that Will was wearing.
Usually, Mike saw him wearing his usual light blue jeans that he customized with holes at the knee with a sweater or oversized hoodie, so to see him wearing a light green sweater that was two sizes too big and sleeping shorts, he found his body temperature increasing. “Can.. Can I come in?”
Will nods, grabbing Mike’s arm and pulling him in the room. “Jonathan is out with Nancy, El’s sleeping and my mom and step-dad are sleeping.” he whispers, “So if you could try and keep your voice down, that would be appreciated.”
“What are you doing awake?”
“I was working on my homework.” Will says, “Which quickly turned into painting.”
He glances around, smiling at the room. Despite never being in the room before, it felt so Will. Everything was artistic, with old pictures he had drawn when he was younger taped to the wall and an easel in the corner. There were vintage records on the wall, some from The Cure and a few from Fleetwood Mac. Mike smiled to himself, imagining a young Will in his room listening to either of those bands made him happier than it probably should have.
“You never answered my ‘are you okay’ question.” Will tells him quietly.
Mike nods. “Right, yeah I’m okay. I just wanted to see you.”
“So you biked down here at three in the morning? It’s freezing, I thought it was supposed to rain tonight.” the shorter boy says quietly, and Mike could hear the anxiety bubbling to the surface.
“Hey.. hey.. hey.” Mike says softly, grabbing Will’s hands, “Relax. I’m okay, everything is okay. I just… didn’t want to talk to you over the phone about this and I know we can’t get a moment alone at school with the party around.”
Mike can feel Will relax. “Sounds serious. What’s going on?”
“You’re in love with me?” he questions.
Will pauses and pulls away from Mike’s grasp. He can feel his heart break as Will pushes himself in a corner. “I… I didn’t think… I mean… yes but I didn’t think you would ever… we would ever…”
“Will.”
“I completely understand if you never want to see me again. I mean, I’m disgusting and it’s weird! I mean… we only became friends a few weeks ago. I’ve been…”
“Will.”
Mike cups Will’s face with his hands and looks at him straight in the eyes. Will is full on sobbing, and Mike can feel that he’s shaking.
“I know it’s weird… and you’re probably not even…”
“Will.” Mike says again, his voice firm.
Will stops dead in his tracks and his eyes scan the situation that he’s in as if he somehow didn’t notice before. “You’re wet.” he says, barely audible.
Mike smiles and slightly moves forward. “Can I.. I mean.. I just want to ask before I d—”
Will nods, not letting Mike finish his thought.
Mike closes the gap between the two of them and he feels like he’s floating. He had heard and read about perfect first kisses a million times, but this was real . It wasn’t perfect by cinematic standards, but it was perfect by their standards and that’s all mattered.
Will stood on his toes, bopping noses with Mike in the process. Mike wrapped his arms around Will, pulling him closer. Neither of them wanted to let go.
But, unfortunately, something they don’t tell you in movies is that people need to breathe. So eventually, Will pulls away, a giant smile on his lips.
“That was somehow better than anything I ever thought was possible.” he says breathlessly.
“That’s pretty high praise.” Mike tells him, connecting their foreheads.
Will nods and interlaces their hands, a smile not leaving his face. “Can I say the thing now please? You stole my thunder before.”
Mike nods.
“I love you, Mike Wheeler.”
“I love you too, William Byers.”
Mike kisses him again before Will can say anything else. This was just as perfect to them. It’s less heat of the moment and more passionate.
On Will’s side, it was three years of unspoken feelings pouring out to the person he loved most.
For Mike, it was finally feeling accepted and loved by a boy. A boy he never thought he would fall for.
They disconnect and Mike can’t help but smile at Will. “I can’t believe we just did that.”
“That you kissed me in my bedroom? Me neither.”
“The fact that you’ve liked me for three years and never told me! Only to send secret notes!”
“Yeah… well… it worked.” the shorter boy says.
“It did.” Mike answers, kissing his forehead.
Safe to say Mike Wheeler definitely classified himself as a hopeless romantic.