𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝; byler

- ¢нαρтєя тняєє -

WILL WALKED UP the staircase, still kind of dazed.

The short walk home hadn't made him grasp what had happened any better, but he had managed to decide one thing; he wouldn't tell Mike about Eddie.

It was just- well, Mike had a tendency to be just a bit overprotective. If he thought Will was uncomfortable with Eddie around, Will knew Mike was capable of completely severing his ties with the new group. Maybe he'd just be mean to Eddie to distance him, which would obviously cause Richie to freak out and then everyone would fight...

Either way, Will didn't want that. And really, what was the harm in not telling?

He twisted his key in the lock of their apartment, and the door opened with it's signature creek. It was an old building, and the apartment was pretty much falling apart around them. But Will loved it, loved it a lot. There was personalty in it- or maybe Will was just used to living in old, crumpling places.

He loved that you could cross the entire apartment in like, 2 minutes. It meant that no matter where he was in the house, he was never more than 2 minutes away from Mike. It seemed stupid, cliche, but it just made him feel better.

Even now, just crossing the threshold, he already felt a little better.

He closed the door behind him, immediately surrounded by the smell of smoke. He ran to the kitchen barley three steps in front of him.

Mike was kneeling in front of the open oven, thick clouds of black smoke making their way out of the oven and filling the tiny space.

Mike's face was smeared with ash, his shirt stained with splotches of red. For a moment Will was alarmed- was it blood?

Until he saw the open jar of tomato sauce on the counter.

Mike was fanning the smoke with his bare hands, coughing ferociously. Will smiled to himself before rushing forward, pushing Mike out of the way. He grabbed the oven mitts on the counter, and reached into the smoke. He pulled out a pan filled with unidentifiable black substance, so burnt it looked like rocks.

With one hand he opened the window on the other end of the room (it was that small). He put the pan on the ledge of the window, and let the smoke wash out into the dark air outside.

Then, he turned back to Mike. Mike was smiling sheepishly.

"I made lasagna," he explained.

Will laughed loudly, and Mike joined in. After a minute he felt Mike's hand wrapping around his waist, and he was pulled into a hug.
"I'm sorry! I wanted to make something special!" he said, and Will laughed even louder. Mike couldn't ever cook. 

"You're an idiot, Mike Wheeler," Will said, and reached up to the smiling face of his boyfriend to wipe a stain of ash from his lips, then kiss them.

✴ ⁕ ✴ ⁕ ✴

The pizza arrived shortly after.

They were sitting in the living room as they kitchen was still full of smoke, eating the pie and watching some silly horror flick on their small television. Will was full after three slices, and lay down on the couch, his head on Mike's lap. Mike started stroking his hair lightly, and Will turned away from the movie to look up at Mike.

Mike was staring at the screen, and Will had a perfect view of his incredible jawline, his perfect lips. He stared at him, smiling again. He couldn't be bothered by anything, not when he had Mike. Mike, who knew him well enough not to ask him how the meet went, because he knew Will didn't want to talk about it.

Mike, who had made him lasagna because he wanted to do something special- at least, he had tried. It was the thought that mattered.

After a few minutes Mike seemed to realize Will was looking at him. He looked down, and smiled at Will.
"What are you looking at?" he asked.

"nothing," Will blushed. Mike cupped his chin, and kissed him again before turning back to the television.

Will made himself comfortable on Mike's lap. He knew they were cliche and probably kind of gross, but he loved it.

He loved that Mike still took any opportunity to kiss him, because he wanted to kiss Mike every opportunity he had, too. He sighed contently, letting his eyes close slowly.

He didn't care how hard his life had been before, he would take everything again and do it happily if he knew this was the end result.

✴ ⁕ ✴ ⁕ ✴

Mike looked down at his sleeping boyfriend as the end credits rolled on the screen.

Will Byers.

He ran his hand on Will's cheek slightly, and although he was one hundred percent asleep Mike saw a small smile forming on Will's lips.

Will Byers.

The strongest person he knew, the sweetest person he knew. He looked so innocent, sleeping like this, It seemed almost unbelievable that he went through everything he had. Mike got up carefully, setting Will's head down on the couch. The boy stayed asleep. Mike stretched then, very gingerly, he picked Will up.

Will's eyes fluttered like they were about to open.
"Shh, it's okay. Go back to sleep, just put your arms around my neck," Mike whispered. Will obeyed sleepily, his eyes closing again as his arms drooped around Mike's neck.

He walked to the small bedroom, setting Will down on the bed carefully. He removed his shoes and shirt, and covered him with the blanket. He proceeded to do the same to himself, too tired to wear his pajamas.

He jumped into bed besides Will, hugging the brunette's frail figure close to him.

He remembered how hard it was, those first six months after the hospital stay. How Will could barely move, how he would wake up screaming every night. It was almost too hard to get through, every yell, every cry, made Mike's heart break. He hated seeing the boy he loved in pain without anything to do about it.

But Will had gotten better. He had defied his doctors' expectations, and was completely back to normal. He was that strong.

Now, being with Will was better than anything. Almost two years together, and he still felt lucky waking up next to Will every morning. He would never take Will for granted.

Mike heard Will murmuring something, breaking him out of his pondering. He turned to the brunette, but Will was still asleep.
"Did you say something, baby?" he whispered into his ear. Will didn't answer.

He shrugged, hugging Will closer.
"I love you, Mikey." Will said suddenly, still fast asleep. The sentiment made Mike's heart leap, even though he had heard it about ten thousand times that day. There was just something about the fact that Will was deep asleep and still, he had said it...

Suddenly, a realization hit Mike. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Will. He did.

Mike looked at the beautiful boy, and he was just more sure. He was going to spend the rest of his life with Will.

To make sure of that, he thought, I'm going to need to propose.

The idea made his whole body burst with a trillion butterflies.

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[AUTHOR SAYS]

I love cute Byler scenes:)) I felt like they deserved some before... you know, everything happens. OOps:)