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If there are three things someone should know about Mike Wheeler, they should be the following:
One. His best friend is Will Byers, who Mike met in kindergarten and is the most amazing person he knows. Mike would do absolutely anything for Will, and all of their friends know that Will is the favorite and gets special treatment, from always riding shotgun in Mike’s car to always taking Will’s side in any argument their friend group has.
Two. Mike is in the process of writing a novel, which he started halfway through freshman year of college and has continued writing throughout his college career. Now that he’s in his junior year, he’s wrapping up the final draft after holed up in his room all Summer to make as much progress as he could.
Three. Mike Wheeler hates chemistry.
His chemistry class is the bane of his fucking existance. Any other science, Mike can wrap his head around. He’s good at other sciences. Biology was a cakewalk, and interesting on top of that. Physics can be challenging at times, but has set rules that allow Mike to figure out how to solve whatever problem he has with it.
But chemistry?
Chemistry sucks.
He can understand some of it, like the things that actually make sense. He can do the ideal gas law in his sleep. But anything beyond that makes Mike want to set his textbook on fire, douse it in bleach, and throw it into the nearest incinerator. Now that would make a chemical reaction. Probably. Mike wouldn’t know.
The only positive of that class is that he has it with Will. Between the two of them, they can usually piece together enough of what’s going on to both get by with low B’s in the class. That, and their weekly tutoring session with Dustin, who somehow not only understands redox reactions but seems to enjoy doing them. Stupid Dustin.
Mike is snapped out of his thoughts by Will, who groans quietly in the seat next to him. Mike leans a bit closer to him, close enough to notice the mole that’s half-hidden behind his ear.
“You doing okay?” He whispers, even though he’s pretty sure he knows what Will’s answer is going to be.
Will turns his head to look Mike in the eyes, and wow their heads were close. “If I have to listen to Mr. Monotone drone on about solubility for another minute I’m going to throw myself out the window,” he replies, matching the hushed voice Mike had used.
“We can do it, we only have-” Mike checks his phone. “Eight more minutes of torture.”
Will drops his head onto the desk, causing a semi-loud thump . Luckily, they’re sat far enough back in the lecture hall that the professor can’t hear the two boys, but that doesn’t mean a few of their fellow students don’t turn their heads at the commotion. Mike glares at them all until they turn away. He is a firm believer that Will should be able to wallow in peace. Hell, Mike’s had enough breakdowns in the library to know that people should mind their own damn business.
Mike places a hand on Will’s back, rubbing his thumb back and forth in what he hopes is a soothing motion. He tries to focus on taking notes for the both of them with his free hand rather than the warmth that’s radiating off of Will where Mike’s hand meets his back.
After a few minutes pass, Will brings his head back up and gives Mike a warm smile. “Thanks, I needed the break.”
“We all need a break from the demon that is chemistry,” Mike replies, retracting his arm and trying to hide just how much he already misses the warmth that Will provided. Which makes sense, since the lecture hall is freezing . No other reason. Mike really needs to remember to bring a jacket to his next class.
“And look!” Mike continues. “Lecture’s over.”
“ Finally . If I only had an hour to live, I’d spend it in this class. The hour would never end and I’d be immortal.” Will says, as the two pack their backpacks and head out of the brick building.
They make idle conversation as they automatically head to the dining hall. It’s tradition at this point. Suffer through chemistry, walk through the overly crowded campus, eat the dubious looking food at the dining hall, and then go back to the spider-infested dorm. The routine is one Mike looks forward to. Well, besides the chemistry. And the over-crowded campus. And the food- actually, maybe Mike only likes the ‘hanging out with Will’ part of the routine. It makes sense, as Will is like, the best part of Mike’s day. He’s the reason Mike wakes up in the morning. Literally. He has a spray bottle he keeps next to his bed for when Mike refuses to get up and turn off his alarm.
“Excuse me!” They’re brought out of their conversation about if the chemistry professor is an actual vampire by a deep, all too familiar voice.
“Not this guy, please anyone but this guy.” Will says under his breath as Mike tries to find the quickest escape route out of the upcoming situation. Unfortunately, there are buildings on both sides of the path they’re on.
Damn it.
‘This guy,’ who is now making a beeline towards Mike and Will, is infamously known around campus as the obnoxious TikTok star wannabe. Any of the trends you’ve seen online where a so-called internet sensation decides to interrupt someone’s otherwise peaceful day? Obnoxious TikTok star wannabe, Josh Jones , has done them all.
“Excuse me!” He repeats, pulling up to the pair while shoving a small microphone in their faces. Has this guy never heard of personal space? Mike shoots him the trademark Wheeler Stink Eye.
Stupid fucking Josh Jones is not deterred.
“What are your names?” He asks in an obnoxious, fake, internet star wannabe voice as one of his frat buddies, who Mike has just now noticed was following him, holds up a phone that he assumes is recording. Fucking fantastic.
Josh angles the microphone at Will first, who reluctantly answers while shooting Mike a look that he can only interpret as ‘please get us out of here and maybe kill Josh Jones while you’re at it.’ Well, Mike assumes that’s what the look means. He himself may have added that last bit.
The microphone is now in Mike’s face. Mike does not appreciate this one bit.
“Mike.” He grits out, trying his best to explode Josh with his mind. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
He can see Josh falter for half a second before that fake grin is right back on his face. “So tell me, how long have you guys been friends?”
Well that’s a weird question. Mike would have thought he would have jumped straight to asking what the most recent song he’s listened to (Paper Rings by Taylor Swift, don’t judge him, he knows he’s hopeless,) or the stupidest thing he’s done on campus (not punch Josh Jones in the face).
He can see some of the annoyance slide off of Will’s face, replaced with a small smile as he says, “Well, we’ve actually been best friends since kindergarten.” Mike can feel himself start to smile too, since Will had to say it so fondly . Mike wants to giggle or pepper kisses over Will’s face or- actually, Mike wants to punch a tree to try to counteract his sappy thoughts.
“Wow, long time huh? Well, what do you two say to winning a hundred bucks?”
Hold up.
Did he just say a hundred bucks?
Mike whips his head over to Will and they share a knowing glance. Just like that, Mike knows that they’re on the same wavelength.
They’re so gonna take this guy’s money.
They both turn back to Josh, much more enthusiastic than they were a few seconds ago. “What do we have to do?” Will asks, and Mike can almost see the fire burning in his eyes. It’s a good look on him.
Josh’s fake grin all of a sudden turns sly, and Mike can’t help but compare the guy to a fox. As excited as he just was, there’s something creeping in the back of his mind telling him that something else is up.
“Well, you guys must be pretty comfortable with each other if you’ve been friends for that long.”
“Yeah…?” Mike draws the word out, trying to figure out what’s about to happen.
“And you guys obviously don’t have an issue with being in each other’s space.” He gestures to the absolute lack of space between the two, which Mike somehow just notices. Have their arms been pressing into each other the entire time? He suddenly feels a lot warmer at every place that’s in contact with Will.
Will seems to be coming to the same realization as Mike, darting his eyes from Josh to Mike to their lack of space, and then back to Mike’s eyes and maybe slightly lower but that’s not something that Mike’s going to focus on right now.
“So, I’ll give you two a hundred bucks if you kiss.”
… What.
No actually. What the fuck.
Mike’s jaw is on the floor and he’s staring at Josh like he has three heads. Actually, having three heads is less ridiculous than whatever Josh just said because what the fuck?
This has gotta be illegal. Okay, maybe not illegal but heavily frowned upon. It’s like, there’s a line and you should not cross it, and while Mike often finds himself trying not to tip over the line, and like, out of nowhere grab Will and kiss him into the wall, he doesn’t because there’s a line . You can’t just-
“Okay.”
…
What?
Mike whips his head to Will, who alternates his gaze between Mike and the floor, until he seems to come to a conclusion and settles on Mike with a fixed glare. There’s something in his eyes that looks like a challenge. He quirks his eyebrow and mouths, ‘ a hundred dollars. ’
Oh, what the hell.
It’s not like Mike can just refuse at this point. Will is challenging him. And if there’s one thing Mike Wheeler is famous for, it’s that he does not back down from a challenge.
He grabs the front of Will’s shirt and tugs.
Will lets out a surprised oof, but the sound is quickly covered by Mike’s mouth.
And then Mike’s mind blanks.
Because, holy shit, he’s kissing Will Byers? He’s kissing Will Byers and Will is letting him? He can feel a breath come from Will’s nose and land on his cheek, because at some point his eyes had closed, when did that happen, and Mike’s free hand is in Will’s hair, when did that happen, and Will’s arm is folding around his waist and tugging him closer.
This is the best moment of Mike’s entire life. He could die happy right here. He doesn’t care that he’s been wanting to do this for almost a decade at this point or that it only started because of stupid Josh Jones, and actually scratch that he does not want to think about Josh Jones when he’s kissing Will, but that doesn’t turn out to be a problem because Will swipes his tongue over Mike’s lips and Mike’s brain goes on a one way track of thinking Will, Will, Will.
There’s still something nagging in the back of Mike’s mind but he can’t bring himself to care. But then Will pulls away and suddenly it hits him.
Oh shit.
They’re on camera.
Will seems to have the same realization he does, and side note, wow does Will look good like this , because both their heads slowly turn in the direction of the most awful man on the entire campus, scratch that, the most awful man in the entire fucking state who has the most despicable shit-eating grin on his face. He turns to the phone which has been recording the whole time jesus christ has anyone ever heard of privacy and gestures to the two boys, who have slowly been untangling themselves, yet not straying too far from the other.
“Well, that settles it. Part seven of my new matchmaking series is officially a success. My venmo is written in the comments if you want to really show your support while I find the next couple who has chemistry. ”
Mike throws his head back and groans. His annoyance is only quelled by Will, who slips his hand into Mike’s and intertwines their fingers. Mike can’t help but place a small peck on his cheek, which seems to be the right move since Will beams at him, trying unsuccessfully to hide it by biting down on his bottom lip and Mike finds it so incredibly cute he wants to scream or cover Will in kisses or just hug him for a day straight.
He settles on grinning back.
Stupid fucking chemistry.