WILL POV-
Mike places the mountain of clothes down interrupted by Will hurrying him. Upon placing the clothes back, they leave the store empty handed. Will guides Mike around swerving him through crowds careful not to hurt the taller boy.
They end up at the store rushing inside showing all the different clothing options. A soft smile appears on Mike's lips watching the shorter boy excitedly run around. The raven-haired boy scans clothes; Mike thought the clothes looked plain, but visualised outfits Will would look good in; he smiles thinking of Will wearing the clothes he chose.
Will runs carrying a few pieces of clothing, Mike assesses them removing distasteful ones. Will pouts. The taller boy pushes Will to the changing rooms.
The raven-haired boy waits outside sitting on a chair along with other guys, fidgeting in his seat unsure of what to do while waiting.
Will opens the curtain to the changing room wearing a new set of clothes. Mike looks at them, he is unsure about the outfit. Pulling a disgusted face, he shakes his head giving a thumbs down. Will huffs returning to the changing room.
Again and again, Mike rejects the clothes Will had chosen, time passed while Mike was still looking for perfection
Whoosh
Will rips open the curtain stepping out. Mike flushes his face as he stares at the clothes he picked out for Will. Mike clears his throat in attempt to hide his face.
"How do I look?" Will twirls in circles to show his outfit, grinning eye to eye, he stumbles while turning. Mike's stands up eyes widening, his mouth was dryer then the California desert; His jaw hit the ground.
"Umm yeah, you look pretty..." Mike blushes standing up
"I mean pretty good" He adds facing away from the shorter boy, nodding profusely. The chestnut-haired boy watches back and forth between himself and Mike. He turns around walking back to the dressing room.
The raven-haired boy sits back down, a blush still covering his face. He buries his face with his hands, people by his side judgmentally look at him
Will changes his clothes back to normal. He opens the curtains taking steps towards the checkout, Will picks up a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses paying for his items. He turns his head around; Mike had his head in his hands
The chestnut-haired boy walks towards Mike. The raven-haired boy looks up towards the shorter boy, the grin present on Will's face grew bright. Will offers a hand to Mike, Mike takes the hand. Mike walked beside Will outside the shop.
"Oh Mike! I got you this!" Rummaging his hands in the bag taking out a pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap Will hands the taller boy the items. Mike places them on his face taking off his hood. It was easier to breath without the hood on, Mike takes a deep breath taking the bag from Will's hands. Will and Mike maintained eye contact.
Ring
Ring
Ring
Will took out his phone almost dropping it, he answered,
"WILL!! MEET US AT SCOOPS AHOY" Max screams into the phone, Will jumped up causing Mike to hide a giggle, Will punches his arms. Mike straightens his back.
"Yeah, yeah okay" Will sighs, quiet into his phone.
Will cuts off the line
The two boys walk side by side. Aligning steps. Making their way up the escalators toward the store that read 'Scoops Ahoy'. Mike holds all of Will's bags, he wore his sunglasses and baseball cap. Will looked toward his best friend, the redhead looked at him a smirk on her face. A look that said, 'tell me everything later'
The group walk into Scoops Ahoy, listening to the sailor music that played in the background, a few teenagers littered the booths. The line was small, Will starts a conversation with Mike,
"You know I used to work here last year" The shorter boy blurts, Mike eyes widened asking Will questions about the job. He was fascinated- Mike had always been an actor, never having any other jobs.
The group finally reached the counter, Lucas stood in front of the group repeatedly ringing the bell. Will looked on confused. A youthful girl popped from behind the counter
"Will you please shut up" Erica stands behind the counter, both arms placed on the counter. Will and Mike stood behind the rest exchanging words between the two of them
"Lucas, I told you not to bring your nerdy friends while I'm working" The youthful girl behind the counter reprimanded. She scrunched her eyebrows, placing a hand on her face.
"They're celebrities" Lucas whispers across the counter
"And I'm a national treasure" Erica sarcastically laughs, crossing her arms over her chest.
"So, you gonna order or what?" Erica adds looking at her nails uninterested in her job. She produced a loud sigh. Lucas begins to order his dessert followed by Dustin, El and Max.
The group one by one they give their orders stand by the side waiting for the others, the two girls leave to choose a seat, choosing a booth that was shaped like a boat. El's eyes lit up sitting down on the plumped padding, admiring the store jumping up and down on the seat, she pretends to be a sailor as Max looks at her with bewilderment.
"Will!!!" Erica changes demeanour looking at the chestnut-haired boy, she smiled leaning over the counter.
"At least Lucas has good taste in friends" She looks over to Lucas who stared at Will
"You know my sister?" the athletic boy raises his eyebrows.
"We used to work together last year." Will quietly says.
"Yeah, yeah that's a great story but we are very busy so order puh-lease" Erica snaps looking at the boys, placing a fake smile on her face.
Will apologises and orders and gives his money, his order was simple compared to the rest of the group. All he wanted was a simple ice cream cone. Will isn't a big dessert person, sure he loved to eat dessert, but he could never consume a large amount in one go. He usually always shares with his mother as Joyce had the same dessert problem as Will does.
"Umm can I have a waffle plate please" the taller boy orders, his voice quiet as Erica asked questions about the ice cream choices
Mike takes out his wallet preparing to pay, a hand grabs his arms stopping him from taking any money out
"Remember I said this time it's on me" Will says. He maintains eye contact with the taller boy as will slips money on the counter paying for the dessert
"So, are they like gay or something?" Erica sneaks to Lucas
"Erica!!!" Lucas shouts
"What? I'm just saying what I see" Erica retorts throwing her hands up and going back to her work.
Mike and will break the contact hearing El and Max wave from across the store, The group sit. Mike sits opposite Will accompanied by the soft ambience of the store Music, the childlike ringing of songs played on Wills mind, he taps his feet on the ground in tune with the melody. Not even noticing an unfamiliar boy in a Scoops Ahoy uniform snapping Will out of his thoughts
"Hi!" He placed the desserts down handing the ice cream cone to Will, their hands touch. Mike looks at them rolling his eyes.
"I'm Jake" The boy says
"I'm Will" He stretches the first part nervously giggling
"It's my last day working here... I wondered if you would like to celebrate with me after this? It will just be us...alone" Jake winks at the chestnut-haired boy putting emphasis on the 'celebrate'. Alarm bells rang in Will's head, he had a bad feeling about this. Mike looks at the uncomfortable smile on the chestnut-haired boy's face.
"Oh um... Actu-" Will attempts to speak
"He's busy" All attention turns towards Mike; he cuts off Will. Mike has a serious look on his face obscured by the sunglasses.
"Oh... okay, enjoy your dessert Will" The boy runs off.
Will looks at Mike with confusion, then toward the rest of the group who avoid eye contact. Will occasionally sneaks glances at Mike while eating his ice cream,
"Would you like to try some?" Mike points to his dessert startling Wil, Mike takes a scoop of his dessert, he holds up the spoon towards Will's mouth, Will parts his lips, blushing from the experience turning his head away from embarrassment
"Can I try some of yours?" Mike questions, Will nods mentally cursing himself for not offering earlier, he holds his ice-cream towards Mikes lips, his hands shake. Mike notices enveloping his hand atop of Will's, they both held to the ice cream cone, Mike licked the ice cream. Will locked in a trance, stares at Mike, it felt like they were the only two people in the world.
"Your ice cream is good, what flavour is it?" Mike leans back, taking another bite of his own dessert
"Pineapple" Will mutters, going quiet, he looks from the corner of his eyes to see Lucas noticing the whole interaction looking shocked. Will faces away trying to ignore the eyes that were glued to him.
Shortly after the group gets up walking towards the exit. Erica comes rushing after them
"Hey Will! There is a job opening and the manager said if you wanted it, it's yours. It's the same as your hours from last time" she says in one go, looking hopeful. Will promptly ponders, then nods
"I'm actually so glad Jake is leaving, he's a sleezeball and reeks of ketchup" She gags saying the last part, Will giggles.
"Okay, they said you can start from tomorrow" Erica adds, observing Will up and down. He nods agreeing to the job. The youthful girl smiles looking at him, skipping back to her workstation
"See you tomorrow sailor" Will shouts to Erica continuing to walk towards the group, Will is lost in thought, thinking about how to juggle going to set and the mall at the same time. Before long the group reach the car. Will throws open the door of the car as Mike gently places his bags into Will's car.
"Oh. I think I forgot one bag in scoops" Mike shouts, tapping himself in the head, Will turns his attention towards the ravenette, He counts all his bags, he doesn't notice any missing, he turns to look at Mike
"Oh really? I'll just ask Erica to bring it home with her, then I'll bring it with me tomorrow" Lucas says calmly walking towards Wills car
"NO" Mike shouts, the whole group look towards him
"I mean no need to bother her" he nervously adds.
Mike runs off back to the entrance of starcourt. Will looks on staring at the raven-haired boy from afar watching as he disappears into the store
"That's the second time he's run away from me" Will thinks aloud, he notices embarrassing himself. He looks away from the group.
Time passes, the group engage in conversation
"All I'm saying is that everything went to shit after Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet" Dustin blurts looking around the group for their responses. Will and El nod in agreement
"If you ask me, it went shit after you were born" Lucas spits back. Dustin gasps
"Oh, you wanna go?" Dustin challenges
"Hell yeah" Lucas puffs up
Will facepalms watching the two boys play fight, he places a hand on his head
"Aww are you bored without me?" Mike places a hand over Will's shoulder. The chestnut-haired boy flinches away, Mike notices.
"Umm here... I got you this" Mike hands a bag to Will, it was a small bag, Will tilts his head attempting to open the bag
"No don't open it yet" Mike panics.
"Open it later, I mean" Mike adds scratching the back of his head
"Mike... I didn't want you to buy me anything" a frown appears on Wills face, he really disliked when his friends brought him stuff especially if they were expensive. Will Byers sat on the edge of the poverty line; he didn't want to be seen as the leach as he couldn't buy expensive presents for friends. The raven-haired boy looks down ashamed
"Thank you though, whatever it is I'll cherish it forever" Will changes demeanour upon seeing the taller boy's face. He throws on a Smile placing a hand on Mike's shoulder.
"But never do it again... I mean it" Will adds sternly, bringing Mike closer to his height in an attempt to appear intimidating, Mike leans back chuckling. Will pouts crossing his arms, he turns on his heel walking towards his car, taking Lucas and Max with him.
"Guys!" El runs after Them, the trio turns around. She envelopes them in a group hug, squeezing the breath out of Will. Mike chuckles prying the brunette girl off of them and dragging her to his car.
The trio look at the pair confused they exchange glances shrugging at what just happened. They sit in the car. Max sits on the front with the chestnut-haired boy while Lucas sits in the back with all the bags. Will places his seatbelt staring at the bag from Mike, he contemplates opening it now.
Knock
Knock
Will snaps out his thoughts as a sound is heard from the window; it was Mike. rolling down the window, the chestnut-haired boy takes a deep breath.
"Can I have your number? I forgot to ask you earlier" Mike innocently asks, anticipating the answer, the taller boys leg pop up and down from anxiety of Wills answer
"Yeah- Yeah of course" Will nods prompting Mike to take out his phone almost stumbling handing it to Will. Will punches his phone number into Mikes contacts, he smiles.
"Can you send me the picture of the selfie we took today?" The ravenette asks running a hand through his hair.
"Okay...right now?" Will questions confused
"Yes please" the taller boy grins nodding up and down in quick succession. Will sends the picture sending Mike an awkward smile. Mike laughs excitedly and runs off. The two friends look at each other, then towards Will
"Okay so... what was that?" Lucas questions
"Tell us everything, he totally went all goo-goo eyes over you" Max mocks, slapping Wills knee
"He did not" will replies
"Yes, he did" Lucas agrees with max
The boy takes a deep breath, staring at the gift in his hands once again
"And he brought you a gift? He should just marry you at this point" Lucas gushes looking at the two.
"He does not love me, it's probably just a gift for saving him or something" Will disagrees stink-eyeing the athletic boy.
"If that's what you think... but We have a good feeling about this" Max points towards herself and Lucas
Will bites the bullet, he opens the bag, their sat a singular yellow hat.
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2496 Words
Another long chapter
Hope everyone is well
have a great day <3