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“Okay, okay, just one more! I promise, this will be the last one!”
“Mom,” Mike groans, and Will can’t help but laugh at his boyfriend’s exasperation. Like always, Mike’s patience is wearing thin—thinner than usual, that is. Even after all these years, Mike still hates taking pictures, which means that tonight, of all nights, is off to a rather terrible start for him.
Truly, some things never change, and Will couldn’t be happier.
“Michael,” Mrs. Wheeler huffs, putting her hands on her hips and giving her son an equally exasperated look, “it’s your senior prom. Do I need to remind you that your sister didn’t get a senior prom because of… well, you know! This is a special day! You know, someday, when you’re older, you and Will are going to look back and thank me!”
She looks at Will, as if to say, Help me out here, and Will just smiles. “You’ve already gotten like a hundred pictures,” Mike protests. “Mom, seriously! You don’t see anyone else’s moms trying to take a million other pictures, do you?”
Will glances over his shoulder. He, very wisely, does not point out the fact that Mrs. Sinclair and Mrs. Mayfield are both still taking pictures of Lucas and Max over in the Wheelers’ living room. He also definitely does not point out the fact that Mrs. Henderson and Jonathan are still taking tons of pictures of Dustin and El, laughing with each other and making fun of their mismatched stag outfits. A few feet away from them, Hopper and Will’s own mom are smiling at the duo, having moved on from watching Will and Mike’s own prom photoshoot.
It’s a special night—one that Will honestly didn’t think they’d make it to, after everything the Party has been through together and on their own. Honestly, he can’t blame the parents (and Jonathan) for wanting to document such a special night.
After all, you only have one senior prom, right?
“We’re going to be late to our dinner reservations,” Mike complains, still doing everything in his power to argue his way out of any other embarrassing photos. “Come on, Mom, that’s enough.”
Will chuckles softly, and before Mrs. Wheeler can say anything else, he steps closer to his boyfriend and wraps an arm around his waist. “When have you ever cared about being late?” he teases softly, pressing a kiss to Mike’s cheek.
Immediately, a bright red blush forms on Mike’s face, and he turns to look at Will. The annoyance in his expression has shifted into something softer—though, he is still pouting at Will. “Hey,” he says defensively. “Maybe I’m turning over a new leaf!”
Will raises a brow, fighting the urge to smile. “We’ve got plenty of time,” he reassures. “We’re not going to miss out on anything. And besides… I wouldn’t mind having a lot of pictures to look back on when we’re all old and wrinkly.”
The blush on Mike’s face deepens. Simultaneously, his expression grows even softer, and he reaches for Will’s free hand, intertwining their fingers. For a moment, he doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t have to. The look on his face says everything, and Will understands him, better than ever before.
I love you, Mike’s expression says, and Will smiles, pulling him a bit closer and stealing a brief and chaste kiss. I’ll always love you.
CLICK!
“Oh, you two are so, so sweet,” Mrs. Wheeler gushes, and Mike turns around, staring at his mom incredulously. His mom stands a few feet away from them, a watery look in her eyes and a warm smile on her face. “I’m happy for you,” she adds, softer now. “I’m really happy for you boys.”
Warmth rises to Will’s own face, and he glances at his boyfriend, only to find a surprised look on Mike’s face. It had taken longer for them to finally come out to Mike’s mom—and even longer to come out to Mike’s dad—but surprisingly, they had been… mostly neutral, if not borderline supportive. Hey, with the shit all of them have lived through, Will supposes that the Wheelers know how to pick their battles. What does it really matter if their son is dating another boy? At least he’s alive.
But this—Mrs. Wheeler being so openly supportive and accepting of them—fills Will’s heart with a comfort and a relief that he can’t even begin to explain. He knows Mike must feel the same way.
“Thanks, Mom,” Mike says softly, offering his mom a hesitant smile. “Um… how about you get a couple more of just Will and me, and then we could get a few more with the Party? Does that sound okay?”
“I could get a couple of the two of you together, too,” Will adds with a smile. “If you’d want any.”
Mrs. Wheeler smiles back at the two of them, and she nods brightly. “That would be wonderful,” she says, then she wipes a tear from her eye. “Phew. God, I’m sorry. I just can’t believe you boys are all grown up now! You’re graduating high school! It feels like just yesterday, Mike was coming home from kindergarten and talking all about his brand new friend. I should’ve known you two would end up together; I mean, he’s always been so obsessed with you, Will—”
“Mom!” Mike exclaims, while Will just laughs and hugs his boyfriend close. “Seriously, Mom? Do we have to do this now?”
“I’m sorry!” Mrs. Wheeler says. She raises her hands in defense, but also looks at Will and winks at him. “I’ll leave the embarrassing stories for later then. Will, remind me to tell you about the year he cried because he couldn’t decide what Valentine’s Day card you would like the best.”
As Mike groans and buries his head in Will’s shoulder, Will can’t help but laugh. “Oh, I’d love to hear all the embarrassing stories,” he says mischievously. “I’ll have to come over so we can talk again, Mrs. Wheeler.”
“You can call me Karen, honey,” Mike’s mom says, and she reaches forward, rubbing Will’s shoulder lightly and giving him another smile. “You’re part of the family, okay? I want you both to know that you’re always welcome here.”
Beside him, Mike tenses ever so slightly, and he lifts his head, a genuinely surprised but also genuinely happy expression on his face. It fills Will’s heart with warmth to see him this happy—this accepted—by his mom. And sure, maybe it’s just because of the emotions that come with a day as special as this one, but Will has hope. Maybe this will be a new start for Mike and his parents.
“Thank you,” Will says with a smile, and Mrs. Wheeler just nods, smiling back at him.
“Okay, okay, I promise I’ll stop crying and finish taking pictures now,” Karen says brightly. “Could you two take a few steps to the left? Yes, okay, just like that! Perfect. Alright, now just pose and smile for the camera…”
“So,” Dustin says, leaning across the table and grinning at all of them, “prom after parties. Which one are we thinking about going to?”
Will blinks, and he glances around the table, trying to gauge his friends’ reactions. The five of them have varying looks on their face—El seems curious and a little bit wary, potentially because she, like Will, has been to a total of one high school party; Max is definitely excited, if the grin on her face is any indicator; Lucas has a bit of a grimace on his face, like the idea of going to a trashy high school party is the last thing he wants to do; and Mike looks surprised, almost as if he hadn’t even considered the prospect of going to an after party.
“Did we even get invited to any parties?” Mike asks suspiciously.
“Eh.” Dustin shrugs, and he waves his hand absently. “Lucas got invited to a few because he’s Lucas, and I figure it’s prom. Everyone’s going to be too drunk to even notice that we’re there.”
“Our parents did say no alcohol tonight,” El points out, glancing across the table at Will. “Or at least, my dad did. Mom didn’t seem too worried.”
“I stopped listening to Hopper years ago,” Dustin says with another nonchalant shrug. “Besides, he’s not the Chief of Police anymore. He can’t do anything to us!”
“He could ground us,” Will says dryly, gesturing to himself and El.
“Sounds like a you problem,” Max says, her voice dripping with a sarcastic kind of sympathy. “I’m up for going to a party tonight. We haven’t been to one since last Halloween, right? That one was a lot of fun!”
At the mention of that Halloween party, Will can’t help but shudder. The first—and the only—party he subjected himself to in high school was some massive costume party that literally everyone in the senior class had gotten invited to. At Dustin’s insistence, the Party had voted to go.
To be honest, it was a lot of fun. The drinks were pretty good, and everyone there was surprisingly nice—probably thanks to how drunk they were. There’d been games and dancing and booze, and honestly, it was nice getting to act like normal teenagers for once. Even Will had been able to let loose and enjoy one or two drinks. Maybe more.
…
Yeah.
By the next morning, every single one of them was violently hungover.
“If by fun, you mean a little miserable, then sure,” Lucas says with a shudder of his own. “I don’t know what the hell they put in those drinks, but that next morning was bad. I swear to God I was throwing up the entire day. Erica wouldn’t stop laughing at me!”
“Ugh.” El makes a face, and she elbows Lucas in the ribs. “Please do not talk about throwing up while we are eating.”
“Sorry.” Lucas flashes an apologetic look at her. “I’ll go if you guys want to, but I’ll be the designated driver or something. I am not putting myself through that again.”
“Well, do you guys want to go?” Mike asks, raising an eyebrow. “Sounds like Lucas is a no. Max and Dustin both say yes. El? Will?”
El shakes her head. “I don’t think I would enjoy it,” she admits. “I’m sorry.”
“Okay, so that’s two votes for no, and two for yes, then,” Mike says, and he turns to Will now, a small smile on his face. “Will?”
Each of his friends turns to look at him, and Will winces. “You haven’t voted either,” Will points out, giving his boyfriend a look. “What do you want to do?”
Mike makes a face at him. “I asked you first!”
“Okay, well, I asked you second!”
“Oh dear God,” Dustin groans—very dramatically, if Will might add. “One of you just decide please! We all know you’re just going to go with what the other one wants either way, so just do it already!”
“He has a good point,” Mike mutters, loud enough that only Will can hear, and Will just smiles back at him. “What do you think?”
Will presses his lips together. If he’s being honest, he doesn’t really want to go to a party, but Dustin and Max had seemed pretty keen on going. And the idea of just going home after prom and not doing anything honestly does sound lame…
“Okay, how about this?” Will suggests. “We don’t go to any of those parties that Lucas got invited to, because everyone’s just going to be drunk and shit tonight. Instead, we could just go back to mine and El’s house and hang out together and do our own after prom. Best of both worlds.”
For a moment, no one says anything. Will holds his breath, waiting for his friends to shoot down the idea, but then, Dustin leans across the table, his eyes narrowed. “What are the chances you can convince your brother to buy us alcohol?”
Will considers this. “Slim,” he says honestly. “But isn’t Steve home on summer break already?”
Dustin’s eyes widen, and he laughs, nodding excitedly. “Byers, you’re a genius!” he exclaims. “God, I could kiss you!”
“Okay, easy there.” Mike rolls his eyes, but clearly, he’s holding back a smile. “I like that plan too. I’d much rather just hang out with all of you than go to some shitty party.”
“Me too,” El agrees, and she reaches across the table, taking Will’s hand. “Good idea, Will.”
“I’m good with that too,” Lucas says with a smile. “Why didn’t we think of that in the first place?”
“Yeah, Mike,” Max teases. “Aren’t you supposed to be the planner of the group?”
“You’re blaming me for this?” Mike says incredulously. “Why is this my fault?”
“Like I said,” Max rolls her eyes, “you’re the planner of the group. I think your boyfriend’s coming to steal your job.”
As Mike opens his mouth to argue, Will just laughs, leaning in close and pressing their shoulders together. “What can I say? He’s a good influence.”
The look on Mike’s face softens, and he smiles back at Will, gently kicking his foot under the table. He doesn’t say anything else, but again, he doesn’t need to. Will knows that they’re both on the same page here.
I love you.
“Oh, get a room,” Max groans. “I’m 95% blind, and even I can tell you’re making goo goo eyes at each other!”
Mike rolls his eyes, and he looks back at their friend, lifting his middle finger. “Hey, Max?”
“Hm?”
“I’m flipping you off,” Mike deadpans. “Just so you know.”
“Are you still looking at Will?”
Mike pauses, then briefly glances at Will and gives him another smile. “Nah. Not anymore.”
A smirk forms on Max’s face, and she leans back, throwing her arm around Lucas’s shoulder. “Then, my work here is done.”
All in all, prom is fairly uneventful.
Honestly, Will isn’t sure what he was expecting from his first (and his only) high school dance, but “uneventful” was never a word he would’ve used to describe it. It’s really no different than middle school dances, other than the fact that there are more drunk people here. After everyone had talked about how exciting school dances are and how important senior prom, especially is, Will sort of assumed it would be more exciting than this.
Maybe he’s going a little crazy here. After four years of having a life way too exciting (and terrifying) for his own good, he probably should be welcoming a normal senior prom with open arms.
It’s not that prom is bad. Nothing goes wrong; there are no monsters that mysteriously come out of nowhere. No one says anything terrible to Will or to any other Party members. All in all, the night is actually a lot of fun. He dances with the others and drinks a little bit of the spiked punch, because it’s there and because he can. Barely halfway into the night, he sheds the jacket that his mom had so excitedly helped him pick out, and he joins the myriad of other teenagers dancing and sweating and bumping into each other. He slow dances with El and with Max, too, and he smiles as Lucas and Max hold each other close underneath the lights.
It’s fun. Honestly, it really is.
But it could be better.
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody! With somebody who loves me!
Will can’t help but smile as he catches sight of his best friends, intermixed with the massive group of other teenagers still on the dance floor. El and Dustin are currently dancing with each other, hand in hand and attempting some sort of tango across the dance floor, and neither one of them can stop laughing. A few feet away from them, Lucas gently spins Max across the dance floor, never once taking his eyes off her. Somehow, the four of them are still going, despite how they’ve been dancing for the better part of the night.
Good for them. Will, on the other hand, feels like he’s just run a marathon. What he wouldn’t give to sit in the AC right now.
“You okay?” Mike asks, leaning close and offering him a smile. Like Will, his entire face is flushed red, and his tie hangs loosely around his neck. The top few buttons of his shirt are undone, and it takes everything in Will not to grab Mike by the collar of his shirt and pull him to somewhere more private.
He’s sure they can find an empty classroom or something, right?
“I’m good,” Will says with a smile. “I’m just a little hot.”
“Damn right,” Mike says without missing a beat, and Will laughs, swatting him on the arm. “Ow! What was that for?”
Will rolls his eyes. “You know what.”
“I was complimenting you,” Mike says, feigning an offended look. “And this is how you repay me? I’m hurt, Will. Extremely hurt.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Will corrects teasingly. Mike just pouts, and Will smiles at him, gently nudging his foot under the table. “It’s a good thing you’re cute.”
Mike rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling too, as he nudges Will’s foot back. “It’s getting close to 11,” he points out, glancing down at his watch. “I think the DJ said earlier this is the second to last song.”
“Mhm.” Will nods.
Somehow, as if on perfect cue, the upbeat dance song comes to an end, and the DJ taps his mic. “Alright, Hawkins High!” he announces. “You’ve been great tonight! We’ve got just one more song to finish our night together, so grab your special someone and pull him or her close, because this one’s for all you lovers out there.”
As the DJ turns on the final song, Will feels his heart twist inside his chest. He can’t help but feel just a little bitterness creep up inside him. All around him, there are happy couples, finding each other across the room and pulling one another close. Nobody else here has to hide their relationship like he and Mike do. Nobody else has to live in fear of what other people will think if they’re seen with the person they love.
Maybe that’s why prom has felt so lackluster tonight. It’s been fun to spend time with his friends, but at the end of the day, there’s a part of Will that just wants to be normal. He wants to dance with his boyfriend, just like everyone else here gets to. He wants to look up at Mike and smile at him as the two of them sway together across the dance floor. He wants to have that memory with them for the rest of their lives.
Will looks back out at the group of students dancing a few feet away from him, and somehow, across the room, he manages to catch his sister’s eye. El tilts her head at him, as if to ask, Are you alright?, and Will nods slightly.
His sister smiles at him, small and a bit sad. She glances in Mike’s direction for a brief moment, then back at Will, and there’s something fiercely determined in her eyes. Somehow, without Will even saying a word, she knows exactly what he’s thinking of.
Do it, El tells him, and she smiles again, more reassuring this time. Be brave.
A lump forms in the back of Will’s throat. If he sits here for long enough, he’ll think of a million different reasons why he shouldn’t do this. He can hear Hopper’s stern but worried voice in the back of his mind, Just be careful, Will, and he can practically see the fear in his mom’s eyes. They shouldn’t have to be this scared. Will shouldn’t have to be this scared.
After all he’s been through to get to this point, doesn’t he deserve to get to dance with his boyfriend at prom?
Before Will can lose his nerve, he stands up, and he turns to look at Mike. “Dance with me,” Will says, holding out his trembling hand.
A surprised look forms on Mike’s face. “Are you… are you sure?” he asks hesitantly.
There’s uncertainty in Mike’s eyes, but there’s longing too. He wants this just as much as Will does—the chance to get to be normal teenagers with their best friends and share this special moment at their senior prom together. They’ll never get this moment back. And Will is done being scared.
If only for right now, he’ll be brave.
“I’m sure,” Will says softly, and he smiles at Mike, watching as the nervousness begins to fade from Mike’s face. “I want to dance with my boyfriend at our senior prom. I don’t want us to look back and regret not doing this. So… will you dance with me, Mike?”
Mike looks up at him, a softness in his eyes, and he reaches for Will’s hand, standing to his feet. “I’d love to,” he whispers back.
And so, though Will’s heart pounds inside his chest, he leads his boyfriend out to the dance floor, standing right near the edge and only a few feet away from their friends. The two of them fit together easily—Mike’s hands around Will’s waist and Will’s arms wrapped around Mike’s neck—and as the song continues to play, they begin to sway back and forth to the beat.
Will takes a deep breath, and he forces himself to focus only on Mike. The only person that matters right now is him. Who cares what anyone else thinks? They’re not doing this for anyone but themselves. This moment is for them.
“It’s just you and me,” Mike says softly, as if he knows exactly what Will is thinking right now. He smiles, a bit nervous, and he holds Will even closer, taking a deep breath of his own.
“It’s just you and me,” Will echoes, his voice just as soft.
When the mirror crashed, I called you,
And turned to hear you say,
If only for today, I am unafraid.
As the song continues on, the rest of the room begins to fade away. Never once does Will take his eyes off Mike, and never once does Mike take his eyes off Will. It truly is as if there’s no one else in the room—no one else in the world—but the two of them. Everything that Will has ever needed is right here with him, and it doesn’t matter what the rest of the world thinks. Right here, right now, he’s happy.
And that’s what matters the most.
“I love you,” Mike whispers, and he looks at Will, his gaze full of so much love and affection that Will feels his own heart soar.
He wishes he could bottle this moment up and keep it close to his heart and mind for the rest of his life. This is what it feels like to be happy, and to finally have peace, and to get to love unapologetically for the first time in his life. It’s everything he could’ve ever asked for and more.
“I love you too,” Will whispers back.
And as the song begins to come to a close, he hugs his boyfriend close, pressing his head into the crook of Mike’s shoulder. Mike wraps his arms around Will even tighter, and he kisses Will’s forehead ever so gently. They both hold each other like they never want to let go, and Will just smiles, exhaling softly as the song’s last words play over the speakers.
My love, take my breath away,
Take my breath away,
Take my breath away.