Chapter Text
One of Will’s favourite things about school being out for the holidays was finally being able to get into the Christmas spirit.
This year, Christmas fell on a Saturday so Will now had the whole week off to Christmas-ify himself and get into the holiday spirit. This started right off the bat the Saturday after his last day of school for the year by decorating his bedroom.
A cheery smile on his face Will went out to his garage to get the box full of Christmas decorations for his own room he’d made and collected over the years.
Unfortunately this box was hidden all the way at the back, meaning Will had to move a bunch of bigger heavier boxes just to get to his small box full of Christmas cheer. It was fine though. It would all be worth it.
Being too preoccupied with clearing a path for himself he didn’t notice the boy walking up behind him.
“What’s happening here?” Said a voice from behind him and Will swiftly spun around huffing out a breath seeing Mike standing behind him.
Once his breath vanished he saw Mike raising an eyebrow at him.
“Geez Mike, you scared me,” Will said, shaking his head. “What are you doing here?”
“What? I can’t come visit my friend?” Mike asked. “Maybe I just was bored and wanted to see you.”
Will just shook his head. Hopefully Mike thought his rosy cheeks were from the cold. How could he say such a thing and not expect Will to flush? To know that he was the first person Mike thought of.
Though the friend part kind of dulled down any hope he had.
“So what are you doing?” Mike repeated.
“Trying to get my Christmas box so I can decorate my room a bit but someone put it all the way at the back so,” Will gestured to the pathway he’d made by moving boxes around.
“Ah,” Mike said in understanding. “Can I help?”
“Yeah for sure!” The words slipped off his tongue so easily and eagerly it made him cringe a bit.
If Mike noticed he didn’t care because he started pushing boxes out of the way, helping Will get to his box faster.
It was funny to Will how eager Mike was to always help him out or spend time with him. Will couldn’t see why, he thought that Mike was out growing him during the summer before they’d moved, but then he turned around. Since the defeat of Vecna, Mike’s been nothing but fun and kind, just like the old days.
Of course this didn’t help his ever present crush.
Even though El and Mike had broken up, Will didn’t think he’d ever have a shot with Mike. I mean, he was basically like the straightest guy alive right?
Yet his crush never faded.
“Here we go!” Will exclaimed, grabbing the small box off of the shelf with his frozen fingers. His mom was right to say he should’ve worn gloves.
“All that for that?” Mike asked. “Damn you must really want to spice up your room.”
“I do,” Will said looking at the box in his hands. Christmas was Will’s favourite time of the year and this would be his first normal Christmas season in a long while.
Will looked back up at Mike to find him already looking up at him with a grin on his face. Will swallowed hard searching his face. Mike’s smile faltered a bit and his cheeks were red. That was just because of how long they’d been out here for, he did walk all the way from his house. But for one second, Will couldn't help but hope that it was something more. Something just like what he felt right now.
“Well then let’s go put them up.” Mike’s smile returned to how it was before and took the box out of Will’s hands, carrying it inside.
For a moment Will just stood and watched his best friend walk back out of the garage. He then shook his head realizing what was happening.
“Wait a minute you shouldn’t be carrying that! That’s my box!” Will exclaimed, catching up to him.
Mike shook his head. “It’s fine Will. It’s not that heavy.”
Will rolled his eyes. “Still, why are you carrying my stuff? You really don’t need to.” Will attempted to take back his box, but Mike swung it around to his side.
“Nope, I want to,” Mike explained and Will wanted to explode. He just looked away from Mike and hoped the next time he looked at him he wouldn’t be fire truck red in the face.
“Why did Mike have to be so goddamn nice?!”
Will held the door open and Mike walked inside. As Mike set the box down to take off his coat, Will shut the door behind him.
“Oh! Did you find your decorations, Will?” El asked from the kitchen, her footsteps coming towards the two of them until he heard a little, “Oh.” Will looked up at her sister to see her a little shocked, but it quickly faded into a smile. “Hello Mike!”
“Hey El,” Mike said kindly, pulling off his hat.
“When did you arrive?” She questioned, her eyebrows furrowed.
“Five minutes ago, something like that,” Mike explained and Will took off his coat. “I was bored so I walked over here and found Will drowning in a pile of boxes.”
“I was not drowning, that’s dramatic,” Will said, taking Mike’s coat and hanging it up with his own.
“You were,” Mike teased. “And I got to be your knight in shining armour and save you from the evil Halloween decorations.”
Will laughed and felt his heart beat louder. He lightly pushed him. “Shut up.”
“Never!” Mike exclaimed.
“So are you staying for a while?” El asked and both the boys turned to the girl like they’d forgotten she was in the room.
“Yeah, I was hoping so, unless you guys are doing anything?” Mike asked, warily.
El thought for a moment then shook her head. “No.”
“You can stay as long as you want, really,” Will said and Mike turned to him with a wide smile on his face, like he hadn’t expected him to say it even though he’s been saying it forever. And he means it. Mike is always welcome to stay.
“Thanks,” Mike said, then leaned down and picked up the box. He looked back up at Will as he tried to snatch it but once again the box was moved out of his reach. “Let me be nice, okay Byers?” Mike started heading towards his bedroom, like this was his home instead of Will's. It just proved how long they've known each other and how Mike has come over way too often. Seriously, he walked around like he owned the place. Thinking about it, it made Will want to laugh and just squeeze the living daylight out of him because how could he make him laugh without even trying?
Will took a moment to slow his beating heart. He took a deep breath and rubbed a hand down his face. He smiled at the thought of Mike, but at the same time he wanted to scream and cry into his pillow because he could never feel the way Will was feeling.
“Is everything alright, Will?” El asked him and Will looked up at her.
He let his hand drop behind his back and he nodded. “Totally fine.”
El’s eyebrows pulled together. She obviously had concerns but she didn’t say anything. “Have fun with Mike.”
Will felt his face catch a flame. He knew she didn’t mean anything by it, but still, it seemed almost like she could see through Will and knew everything he’d thought when he was around Mike.
“Yeah, thanks,” Will mumbled and quickly hurried up to his bedroom, hoping Mike was dumb enough to believe his red cheeks were still from the cold.
• •⭐• •
Eleven knew she was not expert when it came to love or crushes.
But she was an expert on his brother Will. She knew something was up with him.
She’d always known him and Mike were close (that was a given since the first time she met him he was constantly asking if she’d found Will). But the way they were close, it was a way no other duo she’d seen.
Of course they always had their ups and downs but somehow they always bounced back, no matter how big their fight was.
Now of course these were normal things for best friends but ever since they defeated Vecna and they were finally given the chance to be normal kids Eleven noticed more of their actions around each other. Like today for example. It was like when they were together they had their own little bubble. After going back to their conversation after Eleven greeted Mike, it was like they’d forgotten she was there and this wasn’t the first time this happened. In fact, this happened all the time. When they were hanging out with the party, when Mike came over spontaneously (he did that a lot). Sometimes they did it without even speaking. It was like they were having a conversation with their eyes and subtle gestures.
Now again, like Eleven said she was no expert in love, but the way Mike always looked at Will when he wasn’t looking, or the fact that Will had tons of sketches of Mike in his sketchbook, told Eleven that this was no ordinary friendship. These were two total oblivious boys who were in love.
But who was El to assume such things. Afterall she couldn’t be sure.
So she was going to test out her theory.
El knocked on Will’s bedroom door before entering, and letting out a small gasp seeing that Will was not joking around with his decorations. There were paper snowflakes hung up all around his room, jiggle bell's on the door knobs, he’d even put Christmas lights around his window.
“Wow!” El exclaimed.
“Does it really look good?” Will asked, putting down his sketchbook.
“It looks amazing!” El told him and Will smiled. “You and Mike really did a great job. You two work well together.”
Will gave a little shrug. “Yeah. It’s nice to be back on the same page as him, you know.”
Eleven nodded as she came and placed herself on the bed beside her brother. “You care about Mike a lot.” She stated.
“Well- Well yeah, he’s… he’s my best friend. I mean it’s pretty much my job to care about him and what he thinks,” Will stuttered out. El could tell this was making him nervous, but she could also tell there was more that he wasn’t telling her.
She let her eyebrows pull together. “Do you care about Mike in more than just a friend way?”
Will’s eyes went wide. “What-? I-... No, El, I-...”
El put a hand on Will’s leg that had begun to bounce during the conversation. “You know you can tell me anything, right? It’s okay, me and Mike broke up-”
“El that’s not why…” Will cut her off. She heard his voice crack a bit. Why was this upsetting him so much? “It- it’s wrong. It’s not because you used to date him, it’s because it’s wrong.”
Now Eleven was just confused. “What do you mean by wrong? Why is it wrong?”
“Because boys aren’t supposed to like boys, okay?" Eleven watched as Will's once pride filled eyes welled up with tears. "Boys and girls are supposed to date, that’s how it is. Anything else is wrong and people…” Will’s eyes had started to well with tears as he spoke. “People hate guys like me. Guys who like other guys.” A single tear rolled down Will’s face as he turned to look at the floor, trying to keep all his feelings contained.
“Well I don’t hate you,” Eleven told him, feeling a little herself. She grabbed his hand, making him look up at Eleven. “Those people, they’re mouth breathers.”
And Eleven meant it. She didn't understand why people thought boys dating other boys was bad. Weren't they all just people? Why did it always have to be a boy and a girl? Why couldn't it be a girl and a girl? What was so wrong with that? El didn't know how it was possible to think in such a way. She assumed that was why Robin and Vickie had kept there relationship so private and secretive. But they shouldn't have to. Love was love and Eleven didn't want anything to do with anyone who thought otherwise.
She watched as Will huffed out a soft chuckle and wiped away his tears. “I don’t think I could ever hate you. I don’t think mom or Jonathan or any of our friends could ever hate you, ever," Eleven assured him and drew circles on Will's hand with her thumb, in a sort of way to soothe him and let him know that everything was okay.
Will smiled as tears rolled down his face. Eleven swept her brother into a hug. He nuzzled his face into her shoulder, getting tear stains on her shirt, but that didn't matter to El. She kept squeezing him tighter. “Don’t think that we could ever hate you.”
“I won’t,” Will cried into Eleven’s shoulder. Will held onto her tighter and Eleven smiled as she rested her head on her brother's shoulder.
“But just know that it’s totally okay for you to date Mike,” El told him.
“El,” Will let go and swiped the tears off of his face. “The thing is… I don’t think Mike likes boys. I think Mike likes girls and only girls. Even if he did like guys, why would he like me?”
Now that was the thing that made the least amount of sense to El. Did he not see how much Mike cared about him?
“Because you are very likable,” El told him. “And I think Mike does like you.”
“How do you know this?” Will asked, raising an eyebrow. “Did Mike tell you?”
“No, but it’s obvious,” Eleven told him. “I mean he’s always over here. You two are always hanging out. He spends the most time with you out of all of us. You two are always giggling and in your own little world, should I go on?”
“No, you shouldn’t because you’re just listing things that best friends do. Me and Mike are friends okay? It’s never gonna change.” Will swallowed. “Mike doesn’t have a crush on me, alright. We’ll just be friends and it’s okay. I’ll eventually get over him.”
Will looked sad just at the thought of losing Mike and not having a crush on him. And yes, maybe she was stretching it by saying that they were in love with one another. But she knew that they both had a crush on each other.
“Hey who’d you get for secret Santa?” Max asked on the phone later that evening.
Eleven furrowed her eyebrows. “Isn’t the point for it to be a secret?”
“Yeah, but everyone tells someone, especially in a group this big,” Max explained and El nodded in understanding.
This year the party as well as the four older kids decided to do a big game of secret Santa. It was a Christmas game about gift giving that El had learned about and was very excited about. They drew names during Thanksgiving when everyone was in Hawkins. El had gotten Nancy and she bought her a little bracelet with a newspaper charm since she was studying journalism.
“I got Mike,” Max said with a groan. “I have literally no clue what to get him.”
Eleven laughed. Max and Mike had always had a love-hate relationship. One minute they’d be laughing together then the next they’d be yelling curses at one another.
Though Mike and Eleven were close El really didn’t know what she’d get him either. When they dated they never really took the time to get to know each other. El would say she knew Mike better now than she ever did when they were dating. Still, Mike was a tricky person to buy for. She had the hardest time buying something for him birthday last year so she ended up just signing the card Will made for him and said they'd bought his gift together.
“I don’t know,” El admitted. “Maybe Star Wars? I know him and Will like it a lot. Maybe I can get Will something to match.”
“Still having trouble thinking of a gift for him?” Max asked.
“Yes,” Eleven sighed.
Getting a gift Will should be easy. She could buy him some new pencils or a cool set of water colours, but El needed it to be perfect. It couldn’t be just anything.
Will was always there for her when she needed it. No they weren’t biologically related but Will always called her his sister and Will would always be her brother, no matter what. He never got mad at her, he was always kind and El needed him to know what that meant to her.
“You know maybe a twinning Star Wars present wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Max told her. “Then you’d be giving the two of them yet another reason to hang out with each other.” She heard Max sighed. “I swear to God, those two are inseparable, almost as you and Mike were in the summer before you moved to Cali. No offence.”
“None taken,” El replied. “But, me and Mike were dating. Mike and Will are just friends.”
“Like hell they are,” Max laughed. “Oh my gosh, have you not noticed it? They totally like each other.”
Eleven gasped and pressed the phone closer to her face. “You noticed it too?!”
“Uh duh!” Max’s voice yelled in her ear.
“You also think they like each other?” Eleven asked.
“Not think, know. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re in a secret relationship and aren’t telling the rest of us,” Max explained.
“I don’t think they are,” El told her, remembering her conversation with Will earlier.
“Yeah, you’re right. They’re too oblivious for that. Honestly, sometimes I just want to play spin the bottle and have you rig it so they’re forced to figure out their feelings for one another.”
Eleven laughed. “Maybe we should just do that the next time we all hang out.”
Max laughed. “Perfect. Then we could say that was our gift to them.”
Eleven smiled and shook her head. The words repeated in her head once again and she gasped. “What if we do that!”
“What? Eleven I was kidding, we shouldn’t actually-”
“No, no, no,” El interrupted her. “We shouldn’t do that, but what if we like… hinted at it to them. What if we set up some romantic things, do things to make them want to tell each other everything.”
“Hold up…” Max said and then she laughed. “I actually love that! No, we need to do that, I already have the perfect plan on what we could do first!”
El giggled. She didn’t care that her brother thought that Mike only liked girls, that was obviously not true. All they needed was a little push to get to their final destination, and El and Max were happy to help them with that.
“But this needs to be done before Christmas,” El told her. “Do you think we could do that?”
“Totally,” Max said with not a shred of doubt in her voice. “But we need a plan for when we want to talk about it in public, a code name.”
“Hmmm,” El thought for a moment. “What if it was a mix of their names? Like… Wike?” El giggled saying it out loud and Max laughed from the other side of the phone.
“I think Wike is a little too obvious,” Max said. “What about…” Max went quiet for a moment and El awaited her response. “Oh! What about Byler? Byers, Wheeler? Get it?”
El smiled and gasped. “It’s perfect!”
“Yes!” Max exclaimed.
Eleven laughed and did a few little hops of excitement. This was that perfect gift that El had been looking for.
“Okay, Operation Byler is now in motion.”
“So are you going to tell me what you have planned?” El asked, remembering how she had a plan in mind.
“Oh yeah,” Max said and Eleven could hear the smirk on her face. “This will be the best Christmas gift that these boys will ever get.”