Chapter 4 - Opening Up

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3rd Person

They all arrived at Mike's house, leaving their bikes stranded in the front garden and running inside of the house.

"Nobody's home this weekend.. So we can do whatever." Mike shrugged, closing the door behind them.

"Can I call my mum? She will want to know where I am." Will looked up at Mike.

"Yeah, yeah of course." Mike nodded, smiling softly.

Will gave him a big smile, before going over to the phone and calling Joyce.

"Hi mum, it's Will." Will smiled as Joyce's voice came through the phone.

"Can I sleep at Mike's house tonight?" He asked, and Mike could hear a muffled answer.

"Yes I will be fine." Will sighed.

"Yeah I'm sure I could just borrow some clothes." He continued.

"What? No you don't need to it's fine." Will tried to convince his mother.

"No seriously please don-" Will was cut off by the call ending, and he let out a loud groan.

"What?" Mike frowned, leaning against the wall next to Will.

"I told her she didn't need to get up and bring me stuff but she's insisting she should." Will sighed.

"What's so bad about that?" Mike questioned.

Will went red and looked anywhere but Mike, making the taller boy confused.

"What?" He asked again.

"She'll bring my teddy." Will muttered, embarrassed.

Mike let out a small laugh, and Will scowled.

"Stop laughing! It's not funny, it's embarrassing!" He whined.

"Sorry." Mike chuckled.

Will rolled his eyes and began to walk over to the basement, Mike following him.

"What do you wanna do tonight?" Mike asked him.

"Uh, I'm not really sure? I'm sure Max has something we could do." Will shrugged, opening the door to the basement.

"I do!" Max called out from inside of the basement.

Will and Mike shared a look of confusion, before heading down the stairs and joining the circle the party were all sat in.

"Okay, so. I have a game idea." Max grinned, looking round the circle.

"Go on.." Mike frowned, slightly confused.

"Spin the bottle." Max announced, and Mike's eyes widended.

"What??" He shrieked, absolutely appalled.

"What does everybody think?" Max looked around the room.

"Are you insane? No. No way." Mike shook his head.

"Come on, man. It could be fun." Lucas shrugged.

"What's spin the bottle?" El asked them all.

"We put the bottle in the middle of the circle and we spin it, and whoever it lands on we have to kiss." Max explained.

"That sounds like fun." El grinned, and Max turned to the three boys who hadn't answered yet.

"I guess." Dustin shrugged.

"I-I don't know.." Will muttered.

"What? Why not?" Max whined.

"Uh.." Will whispered, not wanting to tell them the real reason.

"Exactly! It's gonna be fun!" Max grinned.

"So Mike? What about you?" Max turned to the taller boy.

"No. I'm not doing it." Mike crossed his arms and leaned back into the bottom of the couch.

"Seriously, man?" Lucas groaned.

"Mike please?" El begged.

"Come on, Mike." Dustin looked up at him.

"Stop ruining the fun! Come on!" She scoffed, and Mike scowled.

"Do whatever the fuck you want, I'm going upstairs." He muttered, getting up.

"Mike you don't need to go-" Will tried, but Mike was already storming up the stairs.

"I'll go up, just start without us." Will turned to them.

They nodded and Will hurried upstairs after Mike, wanting to make sure he was okay. He checked the living room, before he heard a thud from upstairs, so he began walking up the stairs.

He reached Mike's room and knocked on the door softly, and he heard a small sniffle before he heard Mike tell him to come in.

He pushed open the door gently and saw Mike sat on his bed, back facing towards the door.

"Hey.. Are you alright?" Will spoke softly, closing the door behind him.

"Fine." Mike mumbled, his voice shaking lightly.

Will sighed softly and sat down next to him, still not able to get a good look at Mike's face.

"What's up? You seem so down lately." Will placed his hand on top of Mike's, replicating what Mike did for him in '84.

"I-I don't know." Mike sighed, lacing his fingers with Wills.

"I feel like I keep messing things up. Ruining everything." Mike admitted.

"Of course you don't.. Why would you think that?" Will frowned.

"You know that day in the cabin, when I talked about my.. feelings." Mike started.

Will nodded softly, his silence urging Mike to carry on.

"Well, uh, she heard me say that I.. you know?" Mike sighed.

"You love her?" Will frowned, not understanding.

"Yeah, yeah.. I said that. Well I, uhm.. I didn't mean it." He looked down in shame, and Will's eyes widended.

"What?" He shrieked.

"I mean, I thought I did, but then when she was moving into your house she said it back.. a-and I don't know, something just clicked. It didn't feel right to kiss her anymore." Mike admitted, tears welling in his eyes.

"I-Is that why you've been so annoyed lately?" Will questioned, giving Mike's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Yeah.. It's just, it's stressing me out because I need to tell her and I want to tell her but I don't know how because I never ever talk about how I feel and I just find it difficult because-.." Mike trailed off, loosing his breath.

"Mike, calm down. It's okay. Just tell her whenever you're ready. But please, don't lead her on, yeah?" Will kept his glare on Mike.

For the first time in the conversation, Mike looked up at Will, his lips trembling.

"Oh, Mike.." Will whispered, pulling him into a hug.

Mike burst into tears, digging his head into Will's neck.

"It's okay, you don't need to worry.." Will spoke softly, using his hand to gently rub Mike's back.

Mike let out a small sob, and Will sighed softly.

"It'll all be okay, I promise. Just try and calm down for me, alright?" Will smiled softly at Mike, who was looking up at him.

"Yeah, I'll try." Mike whispered, nodding gently.

{Word Count: 1026}

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