I Wish I Was Born A Girl So I Could Love You - byler

Prologue

Mike Wheeler's life was slow. Every day felt like it was a repeat of the one before, but that didn't mean it was a terrible life. Just one he didn't want anymore. There were things he still enjoyed, like his friends, sleepovers with Will, the comfort he felt in the Byers home and peanut butter. But there wasn't much else.

The day started the same as every other, he woke up after his mom had come into the room twice and Nancy once in an attempt to wake him. He then ate his piece of toast and gave a kiss goodbye to Holly before he rushed out the door and rode his bike to school. He was in high school now, sophomore year specifically, but it still felt like nothing had changed over the recent years. The air on his morning ride still had a cold crisp even though spring had already started. He met with the party at the bike racks when he arrived like he did every day, said hello, and then rushed into the first period.
It was a good day although not much different to the rest. In most of his classes, he would get to sit next to Will or sit at note passing distance. He started and ended school with his favourite classes, Science and English. His lunch time was spent in the cafeteria sitting with the party. Dustin and Lucas were arguing about their new topic for the day, which Mike had to chime in occasionally since neither boy was right. Max and El were sitting next to each other, Max's hand was snuck under the table holding Lucas' and El was occasionally glancing between the two of them. Will was talking with Eddie about the next campaign and Mike was intently listening to Will discuss it at length. Soon the bell rang again and it was back to class.

Mike spent his time after school one of three ways: with Will, at the arcade or alone at home finding things that he can distract his mind with. He didn't like being alone, and that didn't mean he didn't like his space, but he found that existing without company left him to think about things he didn't want to think about. Those things included why none of the girls at school liked him the way they liked Lucas. Why did he not like them either? What his dad thought of him, and what he would do without Will, or what Will would do if he wasn't here anymore. Despite his efforts to forget, these things were always circling in his mind.

Today's distraction was Will. It was a weekend (which Mike was very thankful for) meaning he got to stay the night at Will's. Sleepovers had been different lately, ever since Joyce decided to remarry and Hopper moved in with his daughter it meant that Mike and Will's time wasn't always spent alone together. El would occasionally join them in watching movies or would sneak into their room to see what they were up to. Mike liked her, she was nice, pretty and had some sort of sweet innocence to her.

Mike and Will rode their bikes together to the arcade before going home. This was not an uncommon activity for them to do before sleepovers. They started by trying to beat their friends' scores on various games, but soon found themselves getting drawn back to the games they were familiar with. After running out of coins Mike ran frantically around the arcade scrounging the floor for more so Will could have one last game of Dig Doug. Mike stood back up, smiling brightly at Will with the treasure in his hand. Will had one more go at Dig Doug and Mike was cheering him on the whole time, but he wasn't staring at the screen instead, he was looking at Will's face that was concentrated on the game. 'How was I so lucky to end up with you as a best friend?' Mike wondered.

The two boys rode home after the arcade excitedly since Will beat the Dig Dug record, and to celebrate they spent the night eating whatever they could and watching Ghostbusters, an all-time favourite. Mike was unsure of his favourite movie up until Halloween of 1984. This was the year that the party dressed up as the Ghostbusters. Mike was annoyed at the start of Halloween day due to the change of plans caused by Max, but he soon got over himself, and he spent the night with Will. They had made a promise together that they would go 'crazy together', a moment he often looks back to and smiles at when watching Ghostbusters.

This night with Will wasn't much different than others, after finishing the movie they settled into bed ready to talk about everything and nothing. Will read to him one of his favourite Spider-Man comics and they admired the drawings together.

"We should do this someday," Mike said decidedly after a moment of silence.
"Do what?" Will questioned his vagueness.
"This," he said again gesturing at the open page. "I write, you draw, we should make a comic together. We would be a great team," Will smiled back at him and they both soon fell asleep.

Mike woke up to the sun seeping in through the drawn curtains. The beams of sunlight landed gracefully on Will who was peacefully asleep next to him. He spent a moment watching as Will stirred in his sleep and admired the small trail of moles and freckles that led down his neck and under the neckline of his shirt. During the blissful moment, it did not occur to Mike that most friends didn't watch each other sleep in such a loving way.

His weekends at the Byers' house were heaven compared to what he endured during the week. He always had the suspicion that other kids didn't experience school the way he did, instead of watching the teacher and focusing on the work Mike would stare aimlessly out the window daydreaming, only except English or science. He dreaded the bell because that meant walking through loud busy halls. The only thing he liked about school was that it was predictable and gave him routine. The rest of school was a loud mess of social groups he didn't understand.

After being forced to go home because of a curfew the rest of his weekend he drowned out the noise of his parents and focussed on his studies. When he inevitably got bored with homework he laid in bed dreaming about what his future might look like, but he didn't like what his mind came up with. It seemed an awful lot like his parent's life, unhappily married to women who he didn't truly know. After that, he decided he would only get married if he considered that person his best friend.
The weekend ended and soon it was school again only to repeat the same things again. Mike thought this was what the rest of his life would feel like, but it wasn't. He was going to realise that soon