Chapter Text
Will hears the clicking of his bike wheels below him.
The handles feel hot under his sweating palms.
He slows to a stop.
He parks the bike into the rack, then looks up at the building.
Hawkins Memorial Hospital
Three other bikes sit beside his.
He’s the last one to show up.
The inside of the building smells sterile.
The antiseptic crawls into Will’s lungs.
The fluorescent lights are too bright.
He checks his watch. The one Mike got him last Christmas.
A nurse waves at him as he pushes the elevator button.
He waves back, skipping the check-in.
The elevator dings. He heads up to the fourth floor.
“Hey, Will,” Dustin says, waving vaguely from a plastic chair in Max’s room.
Mike’s gaze shoots up from his hands, fisted together too tightly.
He stands up instantly, like he’s been waiting.
“How was the bike over here?” Mike steps toward Will and pulls him in for a quick, loose and unassuming hug.
A few light taps at his back.
They already know.
Why do you still do that?
“Yeah, it was fine,” Will shrugs.
He pats Mike back with one hand.
It feels awkward, restrained. Polite.
“Any goosebumps lately?” Lucas asks, fidgeting with the radio on the table beside him.
“No, not all weekend,” Will says.
“It’s been three days since the last feeling.”
“How many is that this month?” Dustin asks, still sitting. He crosses his arms.
Will shrugs. “Only two.”
Will walks over to Lucas. He pats his shoulder.
“How are you doin’ Lucas? How is she?”
Will looks over to Max, eyes closed in the hospital bed.
Lucas finishes rewinding the tape and pushes play on the radio. The music cuts through the tense room.
“She got her other cast off,” he says casually, gesturing toward her leg.
Will looks at her leg, half-covered in a hospital blanket.
“So… She’s still healing in her sleep,” Mike says, plopping back down in the chair. “That’s a good sign, right?”
Lucas shrugs. “Yeah, man.”
His face doesn’t move.
He stares at Max.
“It’s good.”
Will sees the sadness in his eyes hiding behind a blank expression. The quiet room is somehow loud.
The lights buzz above him.
“I’m gonna grab a coffee,” Mike says, head pointed toward the floor.
“Wanna come with me, Will?” His eyes lift up, looking directly at Will.
Will nods and smiles, quicker than he means to.
“Lucas, you want a Coke or something?”
“Sure, I’ll take a Coke.”
Lucas stands up and digs change out of his pocket, handing it over.
Will pushes Lucas’s hand back toward him.
“I got it,” he smiles warmly.
Lucas cracks a smile back. It’s small. But Will feels relieved by it.
“Thanks, Will.”
He pats Will’s arm and sits back in the chair.
“Dustin? Want anything?” Mike asks, halfway out the door, already scanning the hallway.
“Nah. I’m alright,” Dustin says, waving them off. “Thanks man.”
Will pats Dustin’s shoulder, following Mike into the hallway. They head for the coffee machine down the hall.
Mike’s gaze darts left, right, behind. Then forward again.
He grabs Will by the wrist and pulls him into the restroom a few steps down the hall.
“What are you—” Will starts.
“Shhh,” Mike says, ducking down to peer under the stalls. He walks over to the stalls, pushing each one open. Then he exhales.
Will watches him, half-entertained, half-anxious at the urgency. His eyes are wide.
Then Mike walks back and leans against the bathroom door’s entrance. He shoots a playful smile back at Will.
“Why are you always on a secret side-mission?” Will laughs, standing in front of him, feeling his own gaze soften. The one that Mike always pulls out of him before he can stop it.
Mike doesn’t answer.
He just looks at Will, a familiar look that Will’s come to recognize.
Mike grabs Will’s wrists, pulling him in.
Their lips meet instantly.
Will exhales with a laugh.
“You’re something else, Mike,” Will mutters, not pulling back.
“I missed your kisses,” Mike says back, hand wrapping around Will’s neck.
They stay like that for a while, the world outside non-existent.
“So… Can I try something new?” Mike asks, hands trailing all over, mouth hovering.
Mike feels intense. Jittery. Wired.
Will feels his heart beat hard. His breath shorts. His skin buzzes.
“Oh, um— Uh, yeah,” Will answers, hesitant.
Nervous, but curious.
Mike smiles, thrilled. His hands move quickly under Will’s shirt.
Then he trips forward. Their teeth bump together when somebody tries to open the door behind him.
He groans.
“Shit— Out of order!” Mike yells, almost aggressively. “Maintenance issues!”
He leans back against the door immediately.
Will laughs, tilting his head back. “Oh my god, Mike.”
“I just— I’m so happy to have a moment with you,” Mike says quieter now, smiling. “My dad won’t stop hovering at home. Someone’s always in the room with us. We’re always planning, strategizing, and just—”
He stares at the wall behind Will.
“I have to look at you and not touch when everyone’s around. This weekend was torture.”
You could touch if you wanted to.
He tugs Will’s jacket. Will steps closer and kisses him again.
“I know,” Will responds. “It’s so intense, everyone being around all the time. And your dad’s been extra… angry at home. Do you know why?”
Mike sighs. “He’s fighting with my mom a lot more. Something about Holly and her imaginary friend, Mr. Whatsit.”
Will squints, thinking. “Huh. Like from A Wrinkle in Time?”
Mike nods. “I don’t see the big deal. She probably just wants to distract herself from their fighting.”
Will frowns. “I’m sorry, Mike. I didn’t know they were fighting,” he cups a hand onto the side of Mike’s face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t want to talk about the sad stuff,” Mike shrugs. “There’s enough of it around us lately. I just want us to have our safe space together.”
Will smiles, then drops his hand.
…Safe space.
He looks at the stalls.
“But… in a public bathroom?”
Will shudders. Then looks back at Mike.
“It’s a hospital,” Mike argues, high-spirited. “This is probably the cleanest bathroom we’ve ever been in.”
Will shrugs, “Still a bathroom.”
Mike sighs, letting the moment die.
“What were you going to try?” Will asks, biting his lip, eyes shifting.
Mike lifts an eyebrow. “Guess you’ll have to wait and see.”
Will feels an electric spark inside. He doesn’t let it show. He walks to the sink and washes his hands.
Mike follows and copies him.
“Clean freak,” he jokes.
Will smiles, “I absolutely am.”
“I love it,” Mike says.
He swings the bathroom door open, holding it for Will.
A man stands outside the door, arms crossed.
“Maintenance issues, huh?”
He looks Mike up and down.
Will bites back a smile as he steps out first, avoiding eye contact.
“Yes, sir. Leaky pipe. All good now,” Mike nods once with an unusually perfect posture.
“Right. So where are your tools?”
The man scans Mike again.
“That’s a great question, sir,” Mike nods.
He holds the door open for the man, raising a hand, gesturing into the bathroom.
The man glares for a second. Then he walks in with a huff and something under his breath.
Mike rolls his eyes as the door shuts behind him.
“Jesus, Mike,” Will laughs, shaking his head.
“What? It was a great question,” Mike smiles, looking around the hallway.
They walk to the coffee machine. Mike inserts the coins from his wallet.
The machine whirs as steam rises from the paper cup.
Mike leans against the machine. “So…” he says, tilting his head at Will, raising his eyebrows.
“Uh-oh.”
Mike scoffs. “I haven’t said anything yet.”
“You don’t need to. I know that tone,” Will pokes his stomach. “Just spit it out, Mike.”
Mike huffs, one side of his mouth curling up into a small smile.
“You’re kinda ruining the romantic part.”
Will lets out a small laugh.
“Come to the diner with me tonight,” Mike says, touching Will’s fingertips briefly.
“Again?” Will asks. “How are you so skinny? You survive purely on milkshakes and junk food.”
Mike looks around, then back at Will. He doesn’t respond. He just raises his eyebrows, waiting.
“Mike… I don’t know,” Will hesitates. “Don’t you think there’s too much going on right now?”
Mike sighs and grabs the coffee from the machine. He looks back at Will, taking a sip.
“Ow. Shit, that’s hot.”
Will snorts and walks toward the soda machine.
The coins clank into it.
“Your parents took your car away. I don’t want us biking all around town post-milkshakes anyway,” Will jokes with a scrunched nose.
“Well, that’s how I stay skinny.”
Will grabs the Coke from the dispenser.
“I’m serious though, Mike. What if I have a… feeling?” Will asks. “Remember what happened last time we went?”
Mike’s shoulders drop slightly. “Yeah. Okay.”
He sighs, “I just want things to feel normal sometimes.”
“We’re spying on the military to do crawls in the Upside Down so we can find and kill Vecna.”
Mike takes a deep breath, then sighs.
“There’s nothing normal about that,” Will adds. He grabs a second Coke out of the machine. He shivers slightly at the cold sodas in his hands.
Mike’s gaze falters.
“We never spend time together anymore,” Mike says as they walk back to the room.
“We’re together right now,” Will says.
“You know what I mean,” Mike insists, shaking his head.
“I mean… we always have Castle Byers,” Will says, eyes searching the ceiling.
“It’s too cold in November,” Mike says. “And we’re too busy with the crawls.”
“Yeah. I know. I just… I don’t think we should be acting like everything is okay,” Will says quietly, “When we both know it’s not.”
Will stops walking when the hallway empties.
Mike stops with him.
“I mean— you see Lucas, don’t you?” Will asks. “He’s miserable. Max has been in a coma for almost two years now.”
Mike’s lips tighten and pull to one side.
“And Dustin has been so angry lately. Being back at school changed something in him. Nobody lets him mourn Eddie in peace,” Will continues.
He leans his head against the wall, looking up at the ceiling.
“Things are different now, Mike. Stakes are higher. Our lives are at risk,” he finishes.
“I know that, Will. I know that. I just miss you. I miss the fun. And I want to make it fun whenever I can,” Mike shrugs.
“Maybe you’re making it harder than it needs to be, Mike.”
Shit. Why did I say that?
Mike’s inner eyebrows lift. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” Will hesitates. “I don’t know. Nevermind.” He shakes his head, clinking the sodas together lightly.
Mike sips his coffee. He doesn’t push.
“Okay. Well, can we at least… meet in the supply closet again? Tomorrow at school? Same as last time?” Mike looks down at the floor, then back at Will.
“I still want to try that new thing.”
Will laughs before he can stop it. His heart flutters at the question.
What does he want to do?
He scans the empty hallway, then gives Mike a quick kiss.
“You’re insane. I love you.”
He walks toward a snack machine just past Max’s room, digging back into his pocket.
“Hungry?” Mike asks.
Will shakes his head. “No. Just making sure Dustin isn’t.”
He puts a soda on the ground, inserts the change and pushes the machine buttons.
He grabs a 3 Musketeers from the dispenser door and puts it in his back pocket.
“He said he didn’t want anything,” Mike protests.
“Yeah, but he did,” Will shrugs.
“I heard his stomach growling.”
He picks up the soda and starts walking to Max’s room again.
Mike follows, leaning in from behind while they walk.
“I love you too,” Mike whispers happily with a squeeze at Will’s side.
Will turns around at the doorway, looking Mike in the eyes.
Mike has that warm expression he knows Will loves.
Will analyzes. Then exhales.
“And yes,” Will says quietly.
“You can do… that new thing.”
Mike’s eyebrows lift with a satisfied smile. He sips his coffee.
Will turns back into the room and hands the Coke can to Lucas.
Then he reaches into his back pocket and hands the candy bar to Dustin.
“Dude. What? Thanks,” Dustin says, a smile spreading on his face as he unwraps the candy bar.
“You’re the best.”