Chapter Text
This was gonna be a long week.
That was the only thought Mike had as he exited the plane alongside the party. Max still looked half asleep, like the plane landing had personally interrupted her beauty sleep (which it technically had), and Dustin was loudly arguing with Lucas over what drink was the correct drink to order on a plane. He loved his friends, but some things never changed, and one of those was their general ability to behave normally in public spaces.
“Where even is he?” Lucas asked, eyes scanning the crowd for a familiar head of brown hair in its signature bowlcut. “I don’t know, this airport is so crowded- Will!” Mike cried, the party immediately running up to the boy and-
Oh
Will had changed. It wasn’t like he was ever ugly, of course not. The shorter man had always had a charm to him, pretty hazel eyes complementing his prominent nose and beauty mark, framed by soft brown hair. But he had certainly grown into himself since they started college, significantly enough that Michael Wheeler could no longer ignore the obvious.
Will was hot.
He was wearing loose fitting jeans and a tight burgundy sweater, with a leather bomber jacket worn over that. His hair was longer, bangs falling over his forehead in loose waves. A single silver earring glinted as he moved his head, and he wore a necklace with a small silver padlock dangling from its chain.
Will ran immediately to Lucas, hugging the man tightly. He did the same to each member of the party, until he got to Mike and just… paused.
“Hey,” he said. Mike opened his arms expectantly. Will gave him a painfully awkward hug, not squeezing nearly as tight as he did with the others. “Hey.”
“...So how far is your place?” Lucas asked, trying to diffuse some of the tension in the air. Will’s posture visibly relaxed. “Not too far, about a ten minute drive from here,” he said, leading them out of the airport. “We can grab a taxi and head over now if you’d like.”
“Sounds good to me,” Max said, “It’s gonna be cool to see you in your environment, all ‘cool college kid’”. Will blushed a little at that. “I’m not that different from last year, Max.”
“Sure you are,” Dustin chimed in, smiling as Will waved over a bright yellow taxi. “And either way, it's just good to see you again.”
“It’s good to see you too,” Will said, after he had paid the taxi driver and given them the address, all five of them piling into the vehicle. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it back to Hawkins. I would’ve gone, but Carlton wanted me here with him, and-”
“Don’t worry about it Will,” Mike said, smiling at the shorter man gently.
“It was really kind of you and Carlton to let us stay in your place, by the way,” Lucas said, eyes sparkling with mischief. “I hope he knows we won’t intrude on any time between you two.”
Will blushed furiously at that. “It’s no big deal, he won’t mind,” he said. Suddenly his eyes shifted slightly, worry planting itself firmly behind them. “I’m not sure if he knows how many of you are staying over though, I don’t want him to get too overwhelmed. I tried to tell him about each of you, but he’s been so busy I haven’t really had the chance to talk to him, and-”
“Hey,” Mike said, placing what he thought would be a reassuring hand on Will’s shoulder, grimacing internally as the man shied away from the contact. He pulled his hand away awkwardly. “It’s okay, I’m sure he won’t mind. And if he doesn’t, we’ll find a hotel to stay at. It wouldn’t be the end of the world.”
Will let out a sigh. “I guess you’re right. I just want this break to be fun for you guys. I don’t know, I feel like you guys trekked all the way out here just for me, and I didn’t want to make you all spend even more money on hotels. New York is really expensive.”
“Will, we would’ve spent all of our college tuition to come here, you’re our friend.” Max said, rolling her eyes as if the idea of them not coming to see him was the most absurd concept on the planet. “You’ve known me since you were thirteen and you still don’t think I’d do that?” Will smiles a little at that, looking a little less deflated.
Soon enough, their car pulled up to a tall brick building. “Here we are,” Will said, getting out of the car, the rest of the party following behind him. “I hope you’re all ready for a bit of a hike, the building doesn’t have elevators.”
They were not ready for a hike. After huffing and puffing up what felt like fifty million stairs, Will finally came to a stop. “Well, this is my floor,” he said, somehow the only one not breathless. Mike was suddenly aware of his complete lack of athleticism, wondering how Will had managed to climb the whole way without seemingly breaking a sweat. “Dude, how do you walk up these stairs every day?”
“Oh, I guess I just got used to it. It does make morning classes a bitch though.” Will said, walking up to a door and unlocking it.
“Babe? Is that you?” a voice called from inside the apartment.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Will said, ushering the others inside before taking off his shoes. “I brought company!”
The group shuffled into the small living area, where a man about their age was sitting on the couch. He stood up to greet them, face dropping slightly upon looking at them. He quickly plastered over the frown with a cheesy grin. “Will said he was bringing over a couple friends, I didn’t know he was gonna bring a whole zoo of people!” He said it like it was a joke, but there was a bite to his words.
Mike took a good look at Will’s boyfriend. The man was tall, taller than Mike. He had shaggy dark hair and pale blue eyes that seemed to pierce through Mike’s most intimate secrets. He wore a dark green flannel over a band tee, with light wash jeans. Most notably, he wore a silver necklace adorned with a key shaped charm. “I don’t know if Will’s mentioned me, I’m Carlton,” He said, firmly shaking each member of the party’s hand. “It’s good to meet Will’s loser friends.”
Will immediately turned bright red at this, mouth opening and closing like he was trying to figure out how to respond to the unexpected turn in the conversation. “Carlton, you– shouldn’t say that about my friends,” he managed, a weak response to what might not have been a huge insult, but one that caused Mike to want to keep an eye on Carlton for the rest of the night. He already wasn’t fond of the taller man, and Carlton wasn’t doing himself any favors.
“It’s fine, Will. God, you’re so sensitive,” Carlton said, laughing at his own joke. “Anyways, I was thinking pizza for dinner?”
Dinner could not get more awkward. Every possible chair in the apartment was currently pulled up around Will and Carlton’s rinky dink kitchen table, in order to house the four extra people. Will and Carlton were sat next to each other, the party members scattered around the table. Mike glared at Carlton with about as much ferocity as he could get away with, eyes burning a hole into his stupid pretentious band tee. He took a bite of the quickly cooling pizza in front of him, tearing into the crust with his teeth.
“So, Carlton,” Lucas said cheerfully, “How did you meet Will? Were you two in the same major or something?”
Carlton let out a laugh, a sharp, barking sound that echoed in the quiet apartment. “No, no, we’re not the same major. One of us has to make money, obviously. I major in accounting.” Will’s eyes turned downcast at this, suddenly taking great interest in what was on the floor.
Dustin cleared his throat. “Well, I think those are both great majors. Have you seen any of Will’s paintings? They’re incredible.”
Thank you Dustin, Mike thought to himself. He was trying to say something himself, but chances are he would’ve said something a lot more colorful than what Dustin came up with. For the record, he didn’t think accounting was nearly as interesting of a major as fine arts. At least he wasn’t the only one. Across from him, Max seemed to be biting back quite a few insults herself, Lucas’s grounding hand resting on her knee under the table in a valiant attempt to dissuade her from giving a biting retort.
Carlton scoffed, rolling his eyes incredulously. “Of course I have, I’m his boyfriend! His paintings are great, I just think painting works more as a hobby than it does as a means of income.”
Will set his glass of water down, sighing. “Then what am I doing at college, Carlton?”
“Getting your husband degree, naturally.”
Mike slammed his now-empty glass of water on the table, causing the whole room to jump with the once-contained energy. “Well I think that’s a stupid thing to think.”
“Mike-” Will said quietly, looking from him to Carlton, eyes darting frantically between the two.
“No,” Mike said, standing up and shoving his chair behind him, pointing his finger at Carlton. “I think it's stupid that Will is as incredible as he is at art, and you’re ego is so fucking huge and inflated that you can’t see that!” At that, Dustin grabbed his arm and all but dragged him into a different room, Will’s distressed apologies filling the room they were leaving.
“Mike, you can’t say stuff like that to Carlton,” Dustin said plainly in a hushed voice.
“Why not? He’s being horrible to Will, and everyone’s just letting it happen!” Mike walked back and forth as much as he could in the small bathroom, running his hands through his hair angrily.
“No, he’s horrible. I agree with you one hundred percent,” Dustin said, holding his hands out in a placating manner. “But we can’t talk to him like this when we’re staying in his apartment. You and I both know that this’ll only end up with us getting kicked out, and that won’t end up well for Will.”
Mike’s shoulders slouched with slightly released tension. “I guess you’re right,” he sighed. “But what are we gonna do? I can’t keep chatting with this asshole like he’s not bullying my best friend that he’s supposed to be in love with!”
“I know,” Dustin responded. “I think all we can do right now is offer support for Will where we can, and maybe plant the seed in his head that he deserves better. We can’t just shout from the rooftops that we think that his boyfriend is a major dickwad.”
“... Okay,” Mike’s face scrunched up in begrudging surrender. “I think I’m good to go back out now.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah,” Mike moved to open the door. “I’m good.”
It seemed that Mike’s absence didn’t make the tension dissipate in the slightest. On the contrary, the tension had almost increased, becoming so thick you could almost scoop into it with a spoon. Carlton either wasn’t able to detect it or just didn’t care, going on and on about his studies on accounting and just how interesting it was.
“Nice of you guys to join us again,” Carlton said coolly. “I was just telling Lucas and Max about my degree.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Mike said, becoming very interested in the way the floor looked between his feet.
“Oh don’t worry about it,” Carlton smoothly grabbed himself another slice of now-cold pizza. “But that’s enough about me. How did you guys meet Will?”
Will easily slipped into the familiar story of how Mike and Will met on the swingset, Dustin and Lucas interjecting with quips or their own points of view from the first few years of their friendship. For once, there was a calmness in the atmosphere. The tension seemed to lessen slightly, and everyone sat a little lighter. Even Carlton had seemed to lessen the bite in his words slightly. Then Will got to 1983 and stopped short.
“And you know, now- we’re here,” Will said awkwardly, fidgeting slightly.
“Yeah, after the big bad woods of Hawkins swallowed you whole,” Carlton laughed to himself. No one else laughed.
“Oh come on, you guys really think that the woods in a small suburban town are that dangerous??” Carlton said incredulously, as if the whole situation was preposterous.
“Are you saying that I lied?” Will asked quietly, voice shaking. There was no bite to his words, as if he already knew the answer.
Carlton sighed. “No, I don’t think that,” He said decidedly. “I think that you’re a bit of a drama queen and you blew this out of proportion. Either that or you’re just crazy,” Carlton stood up to put his dishes in the sink, ignoring the way that Will’s friends all glared at him. Mike wanted to vomit. “We should probably take out the air mattress. Hope there’s enough space in the living room for you nerds.”
Will brought out some sheets and blankets to the party, who had just finished blowing up the air mattress and setting up the pullout couch. “This should be all of them,” he said. He was smiling, but there was something behind his eyes. Mike couldn’t tell what it was.
“Will.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you okay?” Mike asked softly. He tried to hold eye contact with Will, who looked like he’d rather be looking anywhere else.
“Yeah, I’m fine Mike. You shouldn’t worry about me.”
“Okay. But if you weren’t, you know– okay, you’d tell me, right? I don’t want you to feel like you can’t talk to me about things, I’m always willing to listen to you.”
“Mike, I said that I’m fine. It’s late, you guys should go to sleep now.”
“Will-”
“Goodnight Mike.”