Like You Already Know (That You're The Love Of My Life)

Warnings, use of two slurs, the q-slur and the f-slur, both times are Will referring to himself. Thanks for reading!!!

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"Have you ever been in love?" Mike asked, laying across the bed in Will's room with an easy grace. He asked nonchalantly, already expecting an answer. Where the hell did this come from?

Honestly? Will didn't really know what to say.

It had been a very, very long year. Spring break had morphed into a summer of preparation, into an autumn fight, and had tapered off into a winter conclusion. Hawkins... didn't really look like Hawkins anymore, but they were rebuilding. The government was aiding in covering things up. Things were going to be okay.

And in the mess of it all, Will was almost sure something had shifted in his friendship with Mike. Mike was... different now, but also the exact same as he remembered. Life was back to when they were twelve and unafraid. Mike felt comfortable with touch again, with talking about things, and honesty was something the two constantly upheld.

Will glanced up from where he was sketching, and he thought about how potentially dangerous answering this question was. Because what was he supposed to do? Admit to Mike he's in love with him? Come out to him, or whatever they called it in California?

He didn't mean to say his next words, but it happened without his consent.

"Yeah." Answering honestly was his apparent course of action. Cool. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Mike shoot up.

"Really?" He asked incredulously, a look of disbelief on his face. If Will weren't so nervous, he would have laughed. "With who?"

"It's a secret," Will teased, proud of how steady he kept his voice. He carefully trained his eyes on the lines below him, but each line was coming out shaky now.

"You can't do that!" Mike exclaimed, throwing a pillow in his direction. "We're best friends! You have to tell me!"

"Hard pass," Will said, not looking up from his sketchbook. He didn't trust himself not to say something stupid.

But saying something stupid almost... felt right. Mike had to know at some point, that he was a queer. Even if he didn't include all that that entailed.

"Fine," Mike conceded. "Can I ask one thing?"

"Technically, you just di-" Mike threw another pillow at him, and he bit back laughter.

"That's not what I meant, you asshole," he said fondly, holding back a smile. Will cast him a look. Sunlight streamed through the window behind him, sharpening angles and giving his hair an almost ethereal glow.

Pretty.

"Yeah, you can."

"Are you still in love with her?"

Will winced. He turned, his legs wrapped around the back of the chair now, hooking his feet between two of the legs. He'd always had a penchant for sitting weirdly in chairs, it drove his friend's mothers insane, but it made him feel more secure. He figured he'd be needing it.

"No," he said shortly, not making eye contact.

"'No' as in, you're not?"

"No, as in, it's not a 'her.'"

"Oh," Mike said, and Will finally made eye contact with him. He looked shocked, which Will was expecting. Completely awestruck. Shell-shocked. That wasn't what he was expecting, was it? But it wasn't angry, yet, so... It could have gone worse, right? " Oh ."