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Will and Mike were too busy in the Wheeler basement playing D&D– laughing and giggling, to realize footsteps coming down the stairs with a small creak.
“And you're down! Hehe I win!!” Will giggles as he shuffles in his seat, overcome by joy and victory. “You can never beat a wizard!” He laughs.
Mike sighs as he plops his head on the table, feeling defeated, but letting out a small smile. “Pssh! It's all luck!”
“Hm– just admit I'm better than you!” Will smiled back.
Just then someone emerges from the hallway, walking over to where the boys are hanging out. It's Nancy. “Hey you two. Having fun?” She shoots Mike a smug grin.
“Nancy? What are you doing here?” Mike groans, huffing as he glares at his sister. “Go away!”
“Geez, so rude. At least Will is respectful. You should be like him.” Nancy exhales. “Why'd I have to get stuck with an annoying brother like you?”
As the two of them bicker, Will can't help but laugh. He always found the two of them really funny, especially when they argued with each other. Will would never admit it to Mike but he always thought Nancy was always the better one during the argument. Her mature vibe and rebuttals were always enough to leave both Mike and Will speechless.
Eventually the two of them stopped their playful banter as Nancy looked over at Will, “Oh right. The reason I came down here.” She moved from her position to go walk over to Will. “I was wondering Will, could you help me with something?”
Nancy? Wanting Will's help? What could she want? He was a little curious. “With what?”
“Oh no, no!” Mike gasped, “You are not ruining our hang out time to drag him to do some weird crap!”
“Shut up Mike.” Nancy rolled her eyes, but then looked back at Will with a smile. “All my friends are busy and out doing things, and I need to practice my make up. I was wondering if you could…”
Will froze. Was Nancy implying that… she wanted to put makeup on him? For him to WEAR makeup? He looked around the room, trying to not feel the way his body feels electric.
He was… excited.
“Oh, um… sure.” Will gave Nancy a small smile.
“Will!” Mike cried, giving him a small frown, “What about D&D?”
“Uh… we can play it after!” Will awkwardly tries to calm Mike's small outrage, trying not to look too deep into his puppy dog eyes. “Right…?”
After a little more silence, Mike just exhales but nods. “Okay fine, but the second you're done– never take him for someone so dumb ever again!”
“No promises!” Nancy laughs.
────────
Nancy brought Will into her room to set him on her bed– slamming the door on Mike's face. “Hey!” Mike yelled through the door. “What was that for?”
“You can't see till I'm done.” She groans. “Be patient.”
Will can hear Mike grumble from across the room- and it makes him smile.
“Boys, am I right?” Nancy huffs fully as she moves around to grab some boxes and brushes from her nightstand and dresser before she comes back to sit right in front of Will.
Will giggles. Nancy was super funny, and pretty, he never thought about it until now but… he's always wanted to feel pretty, pretty like someone like Nancy.
“Okay.” Nancy starts, “Let's start with some eyeliner.”
Nancy starts to carefully apply eyeliner around the curves of Will's eyes. He's never worn makeup before so he flinches a little as the sensation tickles him a little.
Once the eyeliner was done she reached over for a small rectangular box that had an assortment of colors in different shapes. “What color would look cutest you think? Hmm..” Nancy takes a minute to think before she grabs the small brush to pat it on the light blue color. “Let's do light blue.”
It was a quick process– the brush patting Will above his eyes on his eyelids, and for some reason it felt like the most fun thing he's done ever. No offense to Mike or D&D.
Nancy then grabbed a small black tube– then pulled some out of it. She smiled as she opened her mouth, “Can you look up? I don't want to get this in your eye.”
Will nodded and followed instructions, looking up as Nancy took the brush and applied it on his eyelashes. Once that was done she took the blush, and applied a few small pats on his cheeks.
“Okay. Last thing for the face, lipstick.” She reaches for a small bag, moving the tubes around before she pulls out a small pink one. “This one will look nice.”
She quickly applied the lipstick and leaned back, looking at Will with a smile, like she was proud of her artwork. “You look great.”
Will gave an awkward smile back, feeling his face heat up. “Thank you Nancy.”
“No problem.” She stands up. “Now– let's get you a wig.”
Will stops his thinking the second he hears the word wig. “What? I thought we were just doing makeup?”
“Well that was the plan but… you look so pretty I can't stop myself from dressing you up too!” Nancy giggles evilly. “It'll look nice, don't worry.”
Will starts to feel a little stiff but simply nods.
After a few minutes Nancy pulls out a short blonde wig with bangs, smiling--"This is the one!”
She shuffles over to Will and carefully and gently places it on Will's head, making sure all the corners and his natural hair are tucked in.
She leans back and grins, again. “Okay, we're all done. You look so adorable!”
Will clumsily moves his body, clearly feeling embarrassed but also feeling a little… pretty.
“Let me grab a mirror!” Nancy quickly runs to grab a mirror from her dresser, moving it over to Will. “Look!”
As Will looks into the mirror his smile widens slightly as he looks at his reflection. He… does actually look really nice.
Before he could think about anything else, Nancy walks over to her bedroom door and opens it, “We're done. Come admire my masterpiece. I outdid myself.”
Will hears Mike groan dramatically, “Ugh, finally! You took ages.” Will didn't even know Mike stayed at the door the whole time.
Nancy's response was simply a low huff as she opened the door for Mike, letting him walk in. As he does he looks around the room before his eyes land on Will. “Will– can we play D&D now?-”
Mike stops dead in his tracks as his eyes land on Will's face. Will feels his face heat up as Mike just simply stares at him– silence echoing.
He couldn't tell what the expression on Mike's face was– but he looked fascinated?
“Uh… sure!” Will giggled. “We can go back to playing if you want!”
More silence.
“Mike?”
Mike finally blinked and started stuttering over his words, looking anywhere but Will. “Oh um haha you look cool!”
“Is that all?” Nancy smugly walks over with her arms crossed, “Don't you think he looks pretty?”
Mike's face turns red, “W-what? No! I mean yeah, but like– not in a weird way! Not that it's weird to be pretty or anything!”
Will can't help but giggle at Mike's reaction, although he doesn't really understand why Mike reacted that way.
After a little more talking, Nancy eventually decides to kick them out. “Alright boys.” Nancy smirks, “Time for you to continue your game.” Nancy winks at Mike– like she was telepathically telling him something.
“Wait Nancy, don't you want your wig back?” Will shuffles awkwardly.
“No it looks cute on you, keep it. It doesn't fit my head anymore anyway.” Will simply nodded, and Mike grumbled, grabbing Will's hand, which he hasn't done in a while.
“Let's just go.” Mike looked upset, but his face is red. Will is worried he did something wrong.
────────
Back in the basement, they were a little more quiet, Will still had the makeup and wig on, and he was even more worried than before now, that he did something wrong.
“Mike?” Will decides to test the waters a little bit. “Are you okay? You look mad.. did I do something…?”
At the noise of Will's voice, Mike immediately softened his eyes, “W-wha– no! I'm not… mad at you, Will. I could never be mad at you.”
“Then why–”
“Listen Will.” Mike huffed loudly, "I'm just… confused.”
Will tilted his head, blonde wig moving along with the action, “Confused? About what?”
“About you, Will.”
“Me?” Will was even more confused now. Mike wasn't mad at Will, but confused? Because of him? “Why?”
“I…” Mike attempted to let out a deep breath. “I've always… liked girls… and I know I do.”
Will feels his body freeze and stiffen. He gulps and tries to look anywhere but Mike's face. “...Yeah.”
“But…” Mike starts, “After El broke up with me… Me and you started hanging out more and I guess… I just started feeling weird around you.”
Will was practically on his seat now. Weird? Mike felt weird around him? “What do you mean, Mike?”
“I… I… these feelings I tried to ignore… I tried to say I felt this way because you were just a close friend… because we haven't hung out in a while…” He sighs, “But I don't think that's the case anymore, and I don't know what it is.”
Will thinks he understands, but doesn't at the same time because it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel real– there's no way that Mike, Mike who is straight and dated El, Mike who has only shown interest in girls since they met. This Mike. Who is standing right in front of him, saying that he likes Will.
He almost passes out right in front of Mike. “Mike, are you saying that you..”
“I always saw you as just a friend– but when I saw you in that makeup… my heart thumped even louder than before.” Mike looked Will dead in the eyes now. “I tried to wipe it off at that moment because you looked like a girl. That's not the case though. It's because it was you, Will. Not because you looked like a girl… I think.”
Will felt his own breath catch, “Mike–” Before Will could even finish his sentence, Mike was facing him directly, moving closer, closer than before.
Will felt like he couldn't breathe.
He felt like he was in a dream, or maybe even a nightmare.
What was happening.
Mike eventually moved close enough that their noses slightly brushed each other's. He took a deep breath, looking down at Will. “C-can I?”
Will knew what he was asking, and he felt nervous, but he nodded anyway.
He always wanted to know what it would be like to kiss Mike. He spent days fantasizing about it.
After a short breath, Mike finally leaned in and kissed Will. Their mouths moved together, and even though Will had no idea what he was doing, they moved in synchronized rhythm.
Will breaks away and breathes heavily before Mike quickly dives back in, grabbing at Will's wig. “Ngh…. You look so pretty… so pretty…” He mumbles against Will's lips.
Will feels his cheeks light up, feeling embarrassed. “M-Mike–”
Will is once again cut off by Mike jumping to Will's lips. Mike slowly moved his kisses down to Will's cheek, leaving small, affectionate pecks. Will giggles and wraps his arms around him, and Mike leans into it– enjoying the touch.
They sit kissing for about a full 20 minutes, not either one wanting to stop, clearly holding back maybe years of yearning.
To think Nancy ended it all.
Will might have to thank her later.
Eventually though they were forced to stop, being interrupted by the door opening, and Lucas and Dustin walking down, “Hey guys were here! Who's excited for–” Dustin stops dead in his tracks.
The two of them must have looked really disheveled because Lucas and Dustin started blankly at them.
They quickly pulled apart. “O-oh, hey guys!” Mike gulps. “I didn't think you'd be here yet..”
“Uh huh..” Lucas gave a small nod, then turned to Dustin. “You, Dustin… owe me five bucks.”
“Arghh, dammit!” Dustin groans.
Will couldn't help but laugh, he was so happy, being surrounded by his friends… his best friend… no. “Mike.” Will asked quietly, “What are we?”
“Whatever you want.” He smirked back at Will.
Will leaned into him, resting his head on his shoulders. “Boy…friends?”
“Mhm.”
They weren't best friends anymore. They were boyfriends.
“Anywaysss…” Dustin flashes a confused eyebrow raise and Will. “Why exactly are you in makeup and a wig, Will?.. And how did you two end up…”
Ah. Will almost forgot he was in makeup, he got so caught up in Mike and his soft lips that he forgot he was dressed up.
“It's a long story.”