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Mike Wheeler is an idiot.
Well, not in the literal sense of the word. He does well in all his classes. His professors love him (and not just because he’s a bit of a kiss ass). The only class he's ever failed was Algebra his freshman year of high school. But that's mostly because of the interdimensional monsters. And the fact he hates math.
So he’s not technically an idiot. But when it comes to girls, he is. It's his second year of college and he’s gotten nowhere. Yes, girls have asked him out, but none of them were good enough.
He’s fine with it though. He has Will, his childhood best friend and now roommate of two years. Will doesn’t go out with anyone either, so it makes him feel better. Mike thinks that’s weird. Will is a perfectly attractive guy. He’s funny, he’s smart, he’s kind and he’s good looking. I mean he’s his best friend, so of course he thinks that.
Mike is fine with being single, really he is.
If he wants to go out to a nice dinner, he’d just ask Will. If he wanted to cuddle during a movie, he’d just lean on Will’s shoulder. They’ve always been like this.
He wouldn’t mind having someone to kiss. But he didn’t even like kissing his highschool girlfriend, Jane. It didn’t feel magical or anything like the movies said. Just lips and spit intertwining.
But, it's other people who are the issue.
Well, really just one other person, Robin Buckley.
He likes his job, he really does. He gets to sit and read all day, what could be better? It's pretty peaceful. Sometimes, Will will even stop by after class to just sit and talk with Mike. The only bad part is Robin Buckley.
Mike doesn’t hate Robin, she just talks a lot. And asks him a lot of questions. But, Will seems to like her so he guesses he does too. And, she’s always trying to set him up.
A couple hours ago, he went on a date. With a girl. That Robin set him up with. It went bad. That’s all that needs to be said.
So that’s why he's up at 3 AM staring at his ceiling thinking (also intermittently staring at Will, but that’s not important). Thinking about where his life went wrong that he’s getting relationship advice from a-
“Mike?” Will’s groggy voice cut through the silence of their tiny dorm. “Shit. Did I wake you up?” He sounded way too awake for 3 AM.
“No- Well I mean I guess I could tell you were awake or something, I don’t know.” Will’s voice shaked a little, like it was the wrong thing to say. Mike's face flushed. “Shit. Will, I’m sorry. I just ugh-” Mike covered his face with his hands.
He cut him off. “What's wrong?” Worry filled Will’s face.
“I had a date tonight.” Mike replied through his hands. “Oh, I didn't know-” Mike felt embarrassed. Why didn’t he tell Will?
“I don’t know why I didn't tell you. I mean I knew it wouldn’t go anywhere. They never do. Robin is just so insistent that I find a girlfriend. I don’t know why. I hate talking to new people. I wish I could just like, automatically know someone and then date them. You know?” Mike was rambling. Badly at that. “Yeah, I get that….” Will's face dropped.
“We should probably go to sleep.”
“You’re right Robin is probably going to force me to talk about it. And that’s gonna take all the energy I have.” Mike's eyes practically rolled all the way back into his head as he was falling asleep.
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Mike woke up dreading going to work. His shift started at 11, so he had just enough time to go get him and Will coffee. Will was still asleep, he watched him for a couple minutes. Not in a creepy way or anything, like a friend's way. Like making sure he’s not dead kind of way.
He left Wills iced coffee on his bed stand with a note. “Off to work. Be back at 5.” And finished it off with a heart. That’s his best friend. Of course he did.
“So Wheeler, how was your date?” He just rolled his eyes. Mike hadn’t even set his bag down yet.
“Come on, tell me!” If Robin was one thing it was persistent. Mike knew he couldn’t get out of this one.
“Fine.” He said in the most unenthusiastic voice anyone has ever heard.
Robin could tell he was hopeless. “So… no second date I assume?”
“Nope.” Maybe he was helpless. “I mean come on, what was wrong with her this time? I’ve given you so many girls and none of them have stuck. What am I doing wrong!” She lamented.
“I don’t know. None are my type.” Robin wasn’t buying it. And he could tell.
“So then what is this famous type, Wheeler?” She emphasized type in a way Mike was not a fan of.
“I don’t know. Like I want her to be nice. Like I want her to be the nicest person you could think of. I think humor is important too, you know?” Pink started to crawl up Mike's cheeks. “I think if she had brown hair and hazel eyes that’d be good too.” Mike felt embarrassment creep up his neck. “But I mean I don’t even know any girl like that.” He blurted out quickly.
“Any girl huh?” Robin had a look in her eyes. Mike was not a fan of. “So you don’t know anyone” right as Robin emphasized the one the doorbell rang.
Will walks in with a huge smile and a paper bag. “I made you lunch, since you said your shift was gonna be long today!” He is such a good friend, he wished a girl would ever do that for him.
Robin furrowed her eyes at the boys. Neither could notice though, not with the way they were looking at each other.
Their hands touched just for a second while Will was passing Mike his lunch. Electricity spread through Mike’s hand.
“Thanks Will!” Mike gleamed. “Well, I gotta go. I’ll see you later, okay? Bye Mike!” Mike couldn’t help but let his eyes flick down to Will's lips as he talked. Will turned red.
“Bye Will!” Mike sighed when he left. Like a dog after its owner leaves. He opened the bag to see a tomato sandwich (his favorite) and a note. “I hope you have a good shift. Movie tonight?” And a little heart drawn at the end. But like a good heart, not a shitty one like Mike drew.
The rest of his shift was uneventful. For some reason Mike has no clue to, Robin dropped the topic of his date. Entirely. So maybe his shift wasn’t so bad after all. But he was anxious. He couldn’t wait for the movie with Will. Even though it’d probably go the same as always.
They watch a movie they’ve seen 100 times before and fall asleep halfway through.
But still, Mike liked the idea.
In fact, he liked it so much that he begged Robin to leave early. “Please Robin! No one’s even here.” He used his ‘sad puppy dog eyes’ as his sister trademarked. Robin gave up and let him go 30 minutes early. Very exciting, to Mike at least.
He rushed back to his dorm, not even thinking to knock on the door as he barged in.
“Will!” He opened the door and Will was standing there. Shirtless. Mike could feel his face turning pink. He just stared at Will's back, taking in the lean muscles of his shoulders. He wished he could just reach out and touch him. Will turned around to reveal a red face and wet hair.
The wet strands of his hair fell perfectly into place. He quickly raced to grab a shirt to put on. Too quickly for Mike's liking.
“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t think you’d be home so I took a shower after the gym. I didn’t think you’d be home yet.” His face was inexplicably red.
“Oh yeah sorry.” Mike's eyes flicked downward. “I yeah Robin let me go early.” He was talking way slower than normal. And Will noticed. Of course he did. “She did? And are you okay Mike?” Will seemed concerned.
“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine,” he replied quickly. “And yeah well ‘let me go’ was more like I begged her.” Mike's hand flew to the back of his neck.
“You begged her to leave? Why? Was your shift that bad?” Will looked him up and down. “No, I just wanted to have a movie night with you.” Mike was awkward. Why was he awkward? This is normal.
“Cool.” Will replied, “what movie should we watch?”
“Whatever you want,” Mike had a huge smile on his face.
They plopped down on Mike's bed and propped the TV up on Wills, as the routine demanded. They turned on a movie both of them had seen a thousand times before. Mike scooted closer to Will and leaned his head on his shoulder.
They stayed like that for a while watching the movie. Mike was biting his bottom lip in thought. Overly nervous for the situation he was in, “what’s your type?”
“What?” Will was clearly startled. “Like your type? I like guys or whatever.” Will stared at him blankly, “why?” Mike stared back. “I don’t know. I mean Robin was asking me today and,” Mike made his voice higher to mimic Robins. “She was like ‘oh Mike you must have some crazy type if none of these girls have worked out’ and I told her my type and then she got kinda weird, but when is she not.” He shrugged the last comment off.
“So what’s your type, Will?” It almost sounded like Mike was begging. He wasn’t of course. Just curious. They didn’t really talk about this kind of stuff.
“I don’t really know. I mean I haven’t even had my first kiss yet.” This statement was outrageous to Mike. How could someone like Will not have kissed anyone. Anyone at all. This was an outrage. Just as he was about to tell Will about said outrage, he interrupted.
“But if I’d have to say I guess I’d want him to be kind of loud. Since I’m sorta quiet it could balance me out, you know?” He started to blush. “And funny. He has to make me laugh. He also has to have heart, be a leader. And I like curly hair. Especially dark curly hair. And he’d have to be taller than me.”
Huh. Will turned away, his face even redder than before. “So what’s your type?” He was still turned away. The faint sounds of battle came from the TV. But, Mike's thoughts drowned it out.
“I mean like uh- well,” it finally clicked for him. Jesus. He finally gets it. God. Mike Wheeler is an idiot.
He tried to swallow down his feelings and spit back up the right words.
“I guess I’d want th- her to be kind. Like just a really nice person,” Will had moved so he's facing Mike, burning holes into his face. “And I mean I like brown hair, I think it's cute.” God, Mike was so red. Will smiled. Will fucking smiled. Mike is going to die right here. He just realized how close they actually are. He can count every eyelash on Will. Jesus, he's screwed. “Shorter than me too, but I mean what girl would be taller than me so like I dont even know why I-”
Will cut him off, his voice quiet and eyes glassy, “Mike,” Will's lips parted.
Fuck it. Mike leaps foward, to close the few inches between them. Their lips crashing into the others. The contact was warm, so warm, it basically burned Mike. But, Will was frozen. Mike pulled away frantically. “Shit- shit- shit. I dont know why I did that I’m sorry-”
Will cut him off with his mouth. Will was kissing him back. Maybe he isn’t as much of an idiot as he thought.
Mike’s hands flew up from his sides to cup Will’s cheek. The other one goes to the nape of his neck into his hair. Will let out a small noise from the back of his throat at the contact, giving Mike everything he needed.
Will’s hands flew down Mike’s chest, feeling him. All of him. WIll used the tiny gap inebtween Mike’s shirt and pants to his advantage, shooting his hands up his shirt to feel his bare chest. Mike let out a happy noise at the feeling of Will's cold hands against hsi warm body.
At the happy sound, he opened his mouth. Mike traced his upper lip with his tongue,k then moved to the lower one. Will granted him access, exploring like he had to commit this to memory.
Mike tugged lightly at Will’s hair, another happy noise coming from the back of his throat. This had a feeling. This had meaning, like the movies always made it out to have. Mike Wheeler is in his room, kissing his best friend. Nothing has ever made more sense.
Mike's lips drifted from Will’s mouth down his jaw to his neck. His slightly chapped lips kissing gently, then more fervently. Will tilts his head back to expose more skin. Mike licks and bites at his neck, leaving marks in his wake.
He makes his way back up to Will’s mouth for one last deep kiss. Full of everything he could never say.
Will started to laugh. Why was he laughing?
“Am I really that bad a kisser?” Mike asked, almost desperately. Will was still laughing. “No I just- You’re an idiot Mike Wheeler.”
“I know,” he replied with a love struck smile.
WIll planted a kiss on his forehead.
It’s all going to be ok.