Chapter Text
An alarm blares off loud and early as the boy with black hair struggles to keep his eyes open. After snoozing one too many times he shoots up realizing he's late for class. It's the first day of his first fall semester of classes. He’s finally out of a tiny bum town in Indiana. He does miss his friends back home though.
He finally makes his way out the door, his fingers fiddling with his jacket zipper as he tries to find his first building. By the time he finds it he’s got only a few minutes to find the class. He’s running his fingers through his dark hair as he makes his way to the door, trying to brush it out and not look like a mess on the first day.
As he opens the door, he looks behind him and holds it open for someone else.
“Thank you.”
The black haired boy turns around and looks at the other guy he just held the door for. He didn't process what he said so he turns around and they make awkward eye contact before he lets go of the door and keeps walking.
The boy behind him snickers a bit, confused for
God damnit Mike what the hell is your problem
Hes blushing like an idiot by the time he gets to class.
Finally finding the class, almost late, there's only 2 open seats left right in the front. As he sits down he takes a deep breath and his face starts to cool but the boy from the door walks in and has to sit right next to Mike.
They make eye contact, feeling a sense of familiarity, past their experience a minute ago. The boy smiles at Mike and laughs again.
They don’t talk much during class, mostly listening to the professor as she reads through the entire syllabus, explaining her attendance policies and group work projects.
By the time class ends, the boy next to him has already bolted out before he could say a word. Mike knows him from somewhere. He sighs, packing his bag up. The rest of the day gives Mike a headache.
The bigger headache is his roommate, Carlton. This guy has already come back drunk and had random girls over before classes even started. They moved in last Wednesday and had some time to adjust.
Instead of going to his dorm, he ends up at the library, walking by posters for all kinds of clubs. The D&D club catches his eye. It reminded him of back home. Mike grabs a piece of paper and writes down the date, time, and room number.
Mike, excited to join a new party, finds a table and starts working on a new character. Mike the Brave was for his friends back in Hawkins.
His hair that goes about to his shoulders is scrunched up into a ponytail as he looks through spells and rolls for his stats.
By the time he's almost done, it’s getting dark in the library. He packs his stuff into a folder and starts his walk back home, stopping by the student center market to find something for dinner.
By the time he's back, his roommate thankfully isn't there. Hopefully wherever he is he stays for the night. Mike can't transfer to another dorm until the winter semester.
He didn't have a class again with the boy who sat next to him until Wednesday. During Mike's classes on Tuesday he looked everywhere for him. This guy just felt so familiar he needed to talk to him, but he never found him until Wednesday rolled around.
He showed up to class early in hopes that they would have some time to talk. Luckily, this guy seems to be a very punctual person and did show up early.
“Hey.” Mike turned to look at him, “Sorry I didn't say anything when I held the door yesterday.” He flushes.
“No worries, I thought it was funny. Sorry, I don't think I got your name.” He asks.
“I'm Mike. What about you?”
“Will.” He says, confused.
Mike knows they're both thinking the same thing.
“Are you from Indiana by any chance?” Mike wonders.
“I am. I moved to California in the 3rd grade.” The cogs in Will's head start to spin “Are you from Indiana?”
Mike nods. “What part of Indiana?” Will is almost interrogating him now.
“Hawkins?” Mike replies.
“Oh my god. Mike Wheeler. We were best friends!” Will smiles.
“Damn. That was so long ago. I never thought I'd see you again. Did you never get my letters?” Mike asks.
Will looks puzzled. “No?” He laughs, “What did you send?”
“I sent you D&D stuff, I got really into it with Dustin and Lucas. You don't know her but Max shows up too and brings her friend Jane.”
Will wants to respond but the professor raises her voice. “Can the two in the front be quiet please?” She asks.
They look at each other and giggle. They were so caught up talking they didn't even notice class started.
“When class gets out I gotta leave fast because my next class is super far across campus. Maybe we can meet later.” Will smiles.
As Mike is getting ready to leave after being dismissed, he notices Will left a note on his way out.
It says “Text me <3” with his number attached.
Mike gets a flutter in his stomach looking at the heart. Will has great handwriting, Mike admires it for a second before folding it nicely in his pocket. He feels giddy for the rest of the day, playing with the corners of the paper with his hands in his jacket pockets.
His mood dampens a bit when he finds Carlton in their dorm.
“Hey, what's up?” His roommate asks.
“Not much. Same schedule as Monday.” Mike replies coldly.
“Cool.” Carlton pauses. “Do you not like me?”
“I do. We just have different schedules and personalities. I don’t really mind you.” He lies.
“Kay. No problem. Not like you've been a picnic to live with either.” Carlton scoffs. “Youre so boring, you never go out.”
“Ill go out. I could bring a girl back here too.” Mike rolls his eyes.
“Yeah right.” Carlton smiles.
That lit a fire under Mike's ass. This boy was doomed to make a fool of himself.
He doesn't want to stay there with Carlton so he walks out into the dorm lounge and pull out the note to call Will. It only rings once before he gets an answer.
“Hey! Are your classes over for the day?” Mike asks.
“Yeah, why don't you meet me in the main food hub. I'll find us a seat.” Will replied.
“Sounds good!” Mike says before the phone hangs up. He doesn't bother going back into his dorm, he just goes straight to meet Will. He's trying to minimize being in a room with Carlton as much as possible.
Once he finds Will they both sit down awkwardly, unsure of what to talk about.
“So uh- how's Dustin and Lucas?” Will asks. “And who are Jane and Max?”
“Dustin and Lucas both went to college, they're doing pretty good. Max and Jane both transferred into middle school at different times. Jane was adopted by the chief of police so they moved her here. She and Max went to a semi-local college in Indiana together.”
Mike talks for a while as Will just admires and listens.
“So, what about you?” Mike smiles.
“Not much. I did lots of artwork back in California. I actually did the wedding portraits for my mom and my stepdad Bob.” Will looks at Mike who's in shock.
“So you came all the way here for art school?” Mike wonders.
“Yeah, they have one of the best programs in the US. I got an amazing scholarship with my portfolio.” Will laughs.
“Thats incredible. I just came here to get away from Indiana.” Mike laughs. “Have you been out around here yet?”
“Out? Like parties?” Will giggles.
“Yes?” Mike is embarrassed by Will laughing at him.
“Yeah, I tried one on Saturday but after I danced with this guy that ended up being a total jackass I left.” Will rolls his eyes.
A guy?
“I made a bet with my roommate that I could bring a girl back with me from a party this weekend.” Mike puts his head down.
“It's not actually that hard. You just gotta get a little tipsy and go dance.” Will giggles.
“Would you go with me?” Mike sits back up a bit.
“Sure. Maybe I can meet this roommate of yours too” Will smiles.
The silence comes back but it's more comfortable. Before long, they realize just how long they've been there.
“Do you want to come back to my dorm? Maybe we can make you a character sheet and you can join the D&D club with me.” Mike suggests.
“That sounds fun. Lead the way Mike.” Will stands up.
Mike holds his breath as he opens his door, hoping Carlton is with a friend or something, but, sure enough, he's still here.
“Sorry I didn't tell you, I brought an old friend from school over.” He turns to look at Will, “Will, this is my roommate Carlton.” He sounds disappointed.
“It's nice to meet you.” Will says, looking at the boy laying on his bed.
Carlton gets up and makes his way to Will,
“Hey, I figured I should get up and really introduce myself. Especially to someone who looks as good as you.” He winks.
Will looks unimpressed in the face, but his ears are getting red.
“Youre forward.” Will says, monotone, looking him up and down with an uncomfortable stare on his face.
Carlton clears his throat, stumbling back a bit. Mike rolls his eyes before placing his hand on Will's shoulder and staring his roommate down. Carlton rolls his eyes and goes back to his bed, grabbing his phone and scrolling through it loudly.
Mike sighs and takes the papers off his desk before stuffing them into a binder. “Come on. We can go to the library or something.” Mike suggests.
Will nods and follows, he's glad they aren't staying in Mike's dorm.
“That was the jackass I was talking about” Will says after they're down the hall.
“Really? So far Carlton has only brought back girls” Mike's face moves to a confused expression.
“Well he definitely enjoyed dancing with me. Maybe he was just messing around like a frat jerk.” Will smiles while rolling his eyes.
The library wasn't a super far walk from Mike's dorm, thankfully he got one of the ones closer to the middle of campus. However, Wills was all the way on the other side with the honors buildings.
The two boys find a table and Mike begins to spread out his papers, empty character sheets and spell pages scattered everywhere as Will tries to wrap his head around the information.
“Eddie gave me plenty of pages he had already printed before I left as a gift I guess.” Mike tries to organize his chaos.
“Eddie?”
“He ran the D&D group back at Hawkins High. It was the Hellfire Club.” Mike is beaming.
Will can tell how important this is to him. It's crazy how much times change. They were friends so long ago. A lot has happened to them both since the third grade.
Mike didn't know about Will's feelings. He didn't know how to ask him about dancing with Carlton. Maybe it was just for fun?
Mike and Will sat at the library for what felt like hours. It felt like they clicked back together after being separated for so long. They never even found each other's social media or contacts to reach out to each other. They were just so little that once they were old enough for phones, they were just a piece in the back of each other's minds.
Mike meant more to Will than he thinks Mike realized. Will had a hard time with bullying as a kid. Being called homophobic names and slurs. His “dad” always got to him more than the stupid morons at school.
Mike made him realize that this hate that surrounded him was true. He had a fat crush on the boy from his class, Mike Wheeler.
He didn't think about him often after he got into late middle school, new crushes would come and go. Lenora accepted him much better than small town Indiana ever could.
He knew Mike would've accepted him too. That's why he felt so comfortable talking about his run in with Carlton.
“Will?” Mike grabs his hand on the desk.
“Oh! Sorry. I was zoned out.” Will looks at the hand on top of his
“Is everything okay?” Mike moves.
“Yeah. Just thinking. It's crazy that I found you again. What are the odds of us ending up in the same class, same time, same college?” Will smiles.
“I know right? I've been enjoying catching up with you though.” Mike flushes. He barely changes color but it's enough for Will to notice.
Huh. Maybe Mike is more into Will than he remembered?