Byler one shots

21

Will’s lips are on fire. He slowly reaches a hand up to them and feels where Mike’s lips touched his. Did that just happen?

Will waits a few seconds before he clears his throat and closes his eyes again, dropping his hand. “Did-did you kiss anyone yet?” he stammers. He can hear a small smile in Mike’s voice as the taller boy replies with, “yeah.”

“Took you long enough,” Kathy says and opens her eyes at the same time as Will, and Will swears she’s looking directly at him as she says the words.

...Oh she did not plan that. No way.

—

A few hours later, after the last people have left Kathy’s house, Will drops Max off at her house and makes sure she can sneak in through her window properly before he gets back in the car and starts driving home.

His lips are still burning. He recalls the look on Mike’s face as he opened his eyes the second time. Shy, but a tad hopeful.

The walkie talkie in the passenger seat crackles and Will reaches a hand out to answer it.

“Cleric Byers, who am I speaking to? Over.”

“Hey Will,” Mikes voice comes from the other end. “Are you headed home? Over.”

“Yeah, I should be there in about fifteen minutes. Over.” Mike’s silent for a while and Will’s about to say something else when Mike finally speaks again. “Do you want to come over? You can call Joyce and tell her you’re spending the night. Over.”

Will’s heart skips a beat. Or two.

“Already turning the car around,” he says as he does just that. “See you in five minutes. Over and out.” He drops the walkie talkie back in the passenger seat.

Five minutes later he pulls up in the Wheelers’ driveway and gets out of the car. Mike’s standing by the door. Without a word, he goes inside and lets Will follow him to the basement. They don’t say a word, but the usual comfortable silence has an edge to it tonight.

When they reach the bottom of the stairs, after Will quickly calls home, Mike sits down on the couch and turns to Will.

“Can we –”

“Talk?” Will finishes and sits down next to Mike. “Please.”

Mike fingers with the hem of his T-shirt and suddenly makes a point to look everywhere but directly at Will.

“Mike –”

“I’m sorry,” Mike blurts. “I should’ve told you that I like – that I’m…”

“Gay?” Will asks. Mike shakes his head. “No, the other one. Bi.”

“Oh.”

Mike bites his lip. “I didn’t want to seem like I was doing it just cause you did it,” he says softly and looks down at his hands.

“Does anyone know?” Will asks, already suspecting the answer.

Mike hesitates for a split second before he nods. “Kathy,” he says, then, in nearly a whisper, adds, “and Nancy.”

“I’m not mad, you know,” Will says and puts his hand over Mike’s. “And I’m not mad that you kissed me.”

Mike looks up at him, surprised. “You’re not?”

Will shakes his head. “I’m – I’m glad. I, um…” He takes a deep breath and looks down. “I actually, well… like you.”

Mike says nothing. Will mentally curses himself. He said too much. He starts pulling his hand back, but Mike grabs onto it. Will lifts his gaze back to Mike’s and his mind short circuits as he sees the way Mike is looking at him. Lovingly, adoringly. He’s about to open his mouth to say something, but Mike leans forward and catches his lips with his.

The kiss is even shorter than the first, but it leaves Will breathless. Mike leans away, unsure, but Will follows him and kisses him again.

Where the first two kisses were quick and chaste, this one is slower and more certain. Will shivers as he feels Mike’s hands move up his arms to finally come to a stop on his shoulders, and he tilts his head slightly to the the right.

He feels his hands wander up Mike’s chest to wind around his neck, then they both break apart for air but they stay close, their lips nearly brushing against each other.

“I…” Mike begins, but trails off and blinks a few times as though to clear his head.

“Oh,” he says instead. Will laughs. “Yeah.”

Mike smiles. He hesitantly brings one of his hands to Will’s cheek, and Will leans into the touch with a smile of his own.

“Can I – can we do that again?” Mike asks quietly. Will doesn’t answer and instead leans in.

The following morning, Nancy comes downstairs and sees the one of the Byers cars in the driveway. When she steps down in the basement, she finds her little brother on the couch with his arms wrapped around his best friend. She smiles, walks up to the couch and pulls a blanket over the two boys, then walks back upstairs to make breakfast. If she makes toast and waffles for the boys in the basement, that’s for her to know and them to soon find out.