Work Text:
A Chat About Mike
Will sat on El’s bed, drawing as she napped beside him, having cried herself to sleep. She had been the one to give him details about her and Mike breaking up; it had been mutual, but it still sucked. She wanted to work on herself, strengthening her powers while they tried to figure out what to do about all the gates.
He hadn’t spoken to Mike about it yet. It had only been two weeks. It seemed like a bad idea if he did, even though he knew Mike needed him too, but he couldn’t. Will couldn’t bear to look at Mike so soon after breaking up with his sister. He also didn’t know how he’d feel being around the guy he loved when said guy was finally single.
Not that he had a chance anyway. Mike would never feel the same way back.
Lucas and Dustin took over talking to Mike, and Will was grateful to them, especially after Lucas had figured it out. It was an accident; unlike Mike, he had figured out what that painting had been about. It had been nearly two weeks. El didn’t cry as much as she did in the beginning, but she still struggled to sleep, so Will frequently stayed at her and Hopper’s.
There was talk of Hopper and El moving back in with the Byers, but Joyce had only been with Hopper about six months. Will did believe they would soon anyway. He liked Hopper, and he was glad Joyce had finally found someone after the hell of the last years.
He sighed, plucking a green pencil from his pencil case. He was drawing a fantasy character for El, as a way to cheer her up. He’d been doing that a lot; the wall next to her window was now covered in his drawings. Lucas had told Mike that Will was doing that and Mike was apparently upset that Will wasn’t doing it for him, so he’d been doing drawings for Mike too and sending them through Lucas.
Will hated spending so much time away from Mike. But he had to.
A small knock at the door made him jump, and he looked up to see Hopper standing there. He gave him a fond smile, crossing the room to ruffle Will’s hair and leaned over him to kiss El on the forehead. He made a motion with his head for Will to join him outside, so Will grabbed his pencil case and went to sit on the porch with Hopper, leaving El’s door open three inches.
They sat in a comfortable silence on the patio couch. Argyle’s van was parked nearby; why he hadn’t gone back to California, Will didn’t go, but he guessed he was staying for Jonathan, who was still struggling a lot, even though he had Nancy back.
Hopper pulled out a cigarette and lit it as Will shaded part of the character’s skirt. He then heard Hopper cough, the kind of cough that meant he wanted Will’s attention, so Will looked up.
“Yes Hopper?”
Hopper took a long drag, his face thoughtful as he breathed out his nose. “How’re you doing, kid? Doing alright?”
Will frowned slightly at the question and turned back to his drawing. Of course he wasn’t, but he mumbled, “I’m fine. Why?”
“Your mom’s worried about you. She knows something’s up that you won’t tell us.” He side-eyed Will, watching as Will switched to a purple pencil. “I know we don’t know each other very well, but if you needed to talk about anything that you’re worried to tell Joyce, you can talk to me.”
Will looked up in surprise. “Really?”
Hopper nodded, tapping the cigarette over the ashtray. “Really. El is able to talk to Joyce about what she needs, so I wanted to extend the same to you and your brother.” He stared at Will intently. “I’m here to support you kids, no matter what. It doesn’t matter what you need, whether it’s being picked up at 3am, the occasional sneaky cigarette cause lord knows I was a teenager once, or you need help burying a body… you call me.” Will was frozen, his hands shivering as Hopper added, “No matter what, I’m here for you, kid.”
He knew. Hopper knew.
Will’s grip tightened on his pencil. Four people now knew, and incredibly, he hadn’t explicitly told any one of them. The words I’m gay never left his mouth, not even when he was alone. Jonathan, Joyce, Lucas, and now Hopper had all figured it out. He didn’t know Mike had an inkling. El and Dustin were both none the wiser, as with many other people in his life, and it was going to stay that way.
He couldn’t risk it getting out. He couldn’t risk Mike finding out. It was too much.
His chin wobbled, and he turned away, breathing in a shuddering breath. Hopper put his hand on Will’s shoulder as he managed to blubber, “Thank you, Hopper. It means a lot.” Hopper nodding, patting Will’s back before pulling his hand away and stubbing out the cigarette.
A few minutes of comfortable silence passed between them while Will gathered himself. He appreciated Hopper giving him time, sniffling as he finished the purple leather straps of this character that held her daggers, and switch to a yellow pencil to start on the background. Hopper grunted and spoke again.
“Joyce told me you haven’t seen Mike in a while.”
Will jumped violently, sending his pencil case flying and scattering pencils all over the floor of the patio. Will didn’t swear often, but he did now under his breath, passing the drawing to Hopper and quickly crouching down to collect them.
Hopper watched him with his own frown. That was weird. He’d never seen Will react like that, and the kid was incredibly jumpy after he was rescued from the Upside Down. He thought about it a bit, especially from some things Jonathan was vague about when talking about rescuing El in Nevada, and he had noticed that Jonathan did not seem to like Mike anymore, despite his brother and sister adoring him.
Once, Hopper had seen the look in Jonathan’s eye at Mike; he wanted to slam dunk the kid for a dumb comment. It hadn’t even been that bad, but Jonathan seemed like he was on a short fuse whenever Mike was around. Hopper looked down at Will, who appeared flustered and he saw a faint pink tinge in his cheeks, and it clicked.
The kid had a thing for Wheeler. Oh god… why the hell did two of Joyce and Hopper’s kids like that damn Wheeler boy? Actually, all three kids had a thing for a Wheeler. Though Mike was the only one who had upset and hurt both El and Will over the years. He’d improved a lot, becoming supportive toward them like he had been toward Will the year El was ‘missing’, and Hopper gave him a pass because Mike was still just a kid, but still…
He handed Will’s drawing back to him as he stood and clomped back into the shack, picking up the phone and dialing. He needed to talk to Jonathan.
***
Jonathan met him at the Byers house. Joyce wasn’t there, and Hopper left Will with El. Jonathan showed in his friend’s ridiculous van, Argyle driving, and he remained in the van as Jonathan got out and walked over to where Hopper stood.
“What’s up, Hop, you said it was important?”
Hopper didn’t respond for a moment, lost in thought as he gazed out at the trees. Argyle was playing music loudly, the windows down, and the van shook as he jumped into the back. Hopper could see smoke starting to rise in there and he rolled his eyes, turning to Jonathan.
“What the hell happened on that road trip when you went to rescue El?” he demanded. “Between Will and Mike? And before you deny, I already know, I spoke to Will and told him I support him, and I know that you know.”
Jonathan’s mouth was open like a fish. He quickly closed it, shaking his head. “It’s… hard to explain.”
“I’m guessing whatever happened, it was Wheeler’s fault?”
Jonathan nodded. “He just bitched and complained the entire time, completely disregarding Will and always talking about El,” he explained. “I get it, to an extent. He was scared, he was scared for El, but he was just… awful to Will. And to see Will in such pain, trying to help while watching Mike intensely love someone else, it was awful.”
Hopper listened intently, rubbing a hand over his head, where his hair was gradually growing back.
“I’d known for a while. But it was when Will gave him the painting.”
“Painting, what painting?”
Jonathan gestured for a moment. “He’d been working on this painting for a while, he wouldn’t show us what it was, and El had a theory it was for a girl he liked. I didn’t understand that, because Will doesn’t like girls, never has. So when Mike visited and they had this really half-hearted hug, I realised.”
He grinned at the memory of that. “Will was so disappointed, but Argyle immediately put Mike in his place by pretending to hug him when he was actually checking the tag on Mike’s shirt and essentially called him a hack for having a cheap knock-off shirt.”
Hopper laughed at that, glancing in the direction of Argyle’s van. “Remind me to thank him later.”
Jonathan sighed, flopping down to sit on the grass, hooking his elbows over his knees and linking his hands. Hopper sits beside him, waiting for more.
“I don’t think Mike did it intentionally, but he really hurt both El and Will on that trip, a lot. It was one thing after another. Will was in tears quite a few times. I was so tempted to leave Mike in the desert and blames those agents.”
Hopper gritted his teeth, clenching his fists. “I kinda wanna go fight that little turd.”
Jonathan shook his head. “He’s a kid, Hop. I might wanna punt him into next year, but I don’t think he goes out of his way to hurt either of them. He’s a lot better now, it’s obvious he greatly cares for them both. But he says conflicting things, things that make no sense, and he looks at Will and El so differently. He looks at El that same he does with Lucas and Dustin, but Will is different.”
“Different how?”
Jonathan shrugged. “As I said, I’m not really sure. But I think he’s still got a lot of growing to do.”
Hopper sighed. “I just don’t like the impact he has on El and Will. He’s on the same level as Vecna on whether he can make or break them. I would go and threaten him, but I don’t want to out Will to him, that’s not fair on the kid.”
Jonathan was thoughtful. “He might have an idea,” he mused. “I was watching them after Will gave him the painting, and while Will was looking out the window crying, I could see something was happening with Mike. He was confused, conflicted… I thought he would’ve been ecstatic to learn how El felt about him, even though it was really Will confessing using El as a coverup. But there was disappointment there too.”
He smiled slightly. “He couldn’t take his eyes off of the painting though. He was seriously impressed and touched. I caught him looking at it a few times when he thought he was alone, even after we rescued El.”
The two men were silent for a few minutes, listening to the music blasting from Argyle’s van and gazing up at that awful ashy sky that flashed with lightning every now and then.
“I think we should keep an eye,” Hopper said. Jonathan looked at him. “Will’s eventually going to hang out with Mike again. El told me they were still friends, they just needed time apart. She’s mourning the relationship but doesn’t want to be with him. If something happens and he hurts either of them again to the extent of them crying, I will be having words.”
Jonathan nodded, his face hardening. “Agreed.”
“And we don’t tell El or Will,” Hopper added. Jonathan nodded, and the two shook hands on their agreement.