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lighthouseas · 2 years

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strange sleeping arrangements

In which Will and Mike get Murray’d and shenanigans ensue (this is not canon compliant). I wrote this at 2 AM and it’s pretty messy but I tried. I usually don’t write for other fandoms besides anipoke so we’ll see how this goes

TW/CW: mild swearing

Words: 3k

Mike Wheeler had a fairly large family, he liked to think. He had two sisters and, obviously, two parents, making his family a family of five. What he did not expect, however, was his already fairly large family of five to become a family of nine in the span of two days. After the whole mess with Hawkins and the Upside Down opening up a massive gate through the entire town, the Wheeler house had been temporarily utilized for the Byers + Murray Bauman, for reasons that Mike could only decipher as “needing to relocate before the Russian government concocts a plan to assassinate him”. As far as Mike could tell, he was the only one worried about this, as Joyce, who had also been involved with the whole Russia scheme, didn’t seem as pressed as Murray was.

As far as sleeping arrangements went, Mike’s mother had permitted Nancy and Jonathan to sleep in the same room only because of limited space, Joyce had gotten Holly’s room while Karen and Holly got what would normally be Mike’s parents’ room. Ted Wheeler was perfectly content sleeping on the lazy boy. As for Murray and Will, well, it was a bit more complicated. Every time his mother told him he’d be sharing a room with Will, he physically recoiled.

What was wrong with him?

“Mike, why are you so resistant to sharing your room with Will? He’s our guest, for God’s sake. Have some hospitality,” Karen scolded, shooting Mike a disapproving glare.

“It’s- it’s just-” Mike really had no explanation for it. The thought of doing such a thing, though he’d done it so many times before with all of the sleepovers he’d had with Will over the years, it scared him. It scared him and shook him to his core and he didn’t know why.

Well, he sort of did know why, but he pretended he didn’t.

“It’s fine, Mrs. Wheeler. I can just sleep in the basement,” Will chimed in. His voice had an edge to it that Mike couldn’t seem to place.

Before Mike could say anything, Murray was in the doorframe leading into the kitchen, a bottle of what looked to be vodka clutched tightly in his hands as he scanned the room with a look of utter disapproval.

“Nope. Not happening. I am not, under any circumstance, having a twelve year old sleep in a dirty basement with me.”

“I’m fifteen,” Will corrected.

“Same difference!”

Mrs. Wheeler physically cringed at the sight of Murray, muttering a sort it out between the three of you before briskly exiting the kitchen. Murray rolled his eyes, strutting into the kitchen and opening the fridge, clearly looking for some sort of food to combat the vodka.

Mike stole a glance over at Will, who had already been staring at him. He quickly looked away, suddenly feeling a tightening in his chest.

Things had been different after El had fought Vecna. Things had been different after Will had showed him the painting.

Hell, things had been different since that day Will had gotten back from the Upside Down.

Mike didn’t seem to have an ounce of hospitality left in him, and all he wanted to do was slam the door of his room in Will’s face and tell him to never walk in it, ever.

“Mike,” Will whispered, glancing at Murray to make sure he wasn’t listening (he was busy slugging vodka and toasting Eggo waffles), “what’s wrong with you? You’ve been acting strange since we got back.” Will sighed, furrowing his brows at Mike. “Actually, you’ve been acting strange since you came to visit us. What’s up with you?”

Mike clenched his fists so hard that he thought the veins in his hand might explode. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. My room is just messy. I-” Mike swallowed hard, knowing damn well that wasn’t the reason, “I- uh- I wouldn’t want you staying in it.”

Will looked unconvinced. “Are you sure?”

The tightening in Mike’s chest seemed to suddenly explode. He stood up, slamming both hands down on the countertop in front of him. “I told you, nothing’s wrong!”

Will jumped, looking rather hurt by Mike’s sudden outburst. He was about to say something more, but before he could, the sound of a toaster popping on the other side of the kitchen startled both boys. Murray turned around, taking a sip of vodka and a bite of his now freshly-toasted waffle, raising an eyebrow at the two.

“Lover’s quarrel?”

The two boys glanced at each other with looks on par with what the actual hell is he talking about and both shouted “NO!” in unison at the man standing before them.

“My, my, no need to get so defensive! I was simply making an observation.” Murray shrugged, taking another bite of his Eggo. “You two argue like a pair of moody teenagers who are secretly in love with one another. One of them,” he motioned to Mike, who visibly flinched, “is emotionally constipated when it comes to love because of, let me guess, his parents don’t actually love each other and he grew up with the expectation that his future “true love” would be exactly like that, so he needs a cute little fluffy emotional baggage compartment,” this time, Murray motioned to Will, who looked rather taken aback, “to reassure him that he’s worth every penny of love because, oh my god, he’s head over heels for said boy and would do absolutely anything for him, even if it means shouldering the weight of his emotionally constipated love-of-his-life, who, by the way, probably hasn’t taken into account that he’s trauma dumping on a person who already has enough trauma as it is.”

The three sat in silence. Mike looked over at Will, who was frozen on the spot, a clear, deep shade of red occupying his cheeks. Mike opened his mouth to say something more, but found that all words escaped him.

Because, goddamnit, Murray had somehow gotten everything that was going on in his head into words. Odd words, but words nonetheless.

Mike wanted to die.

Murray sighed. “The point is,” he said, swallowing the last bits of Eggo, “I don’t want a hopelessly in love twelve year old sleeping in the same room as me. I left my adolescence long ago- I don’t want to have to relive it. So for Pete’s sake, just share a goddamn room.”

With that, Murray retreated to the basement, still carrying the bottle of vodka in his hand. Will and Mike looked at each other, then looked away, then looked at each other again before Mike sighed.

“Just take my room. I’ll take the basement. I’m going to bed.”

Will was about to protest, but Mike was already making his way down the basement steps. Truthfully, Mike just wanted to get out of the situation as soon as possible, even if that meant sharing a basement with none other than Murray Bauman.

Mike couldn’t sleep. The one very obvious reason why he couldn’t sleep was because of the fact that Murray snored extremely loudly. Mike was surprised he hadn’t woken up the entire house.

The second reason (which, coincidentally, also had to do with Murray) was that he couldn’t stop thinking about the things Murray had said, and how spot-on they had been.

He was “emotionally constipated”, even if he hated to admit it to himself. His parents had never loved each other- his mom had married his dad for the money and that was about it. And yeah, okay, he had relied on Will for like, basically all of his emotional support throughout the years. He’d never actually talked to El about that stuff because she had so much trauma already from quite literally being raised in a lab and he wasn’t about to compare his own problems to…that. Maybe that was why his relationship with El had seemed so different lately, why his confession of “love” hadn’t felt right at all and had just felt like it needed to be there so that El wouldn’t die fighting Vecna. He truly cared about El, but deep down, he knew he wouldn’t be able to love her in the way she so clearly loved him. And that was something that terrified him to his core. He wanted her to be happy, and he feared telling her the truth would devastate her.

But what about Will? Mike realized that since the day Will had come back from the Upside Down, he had been, as Murray described, been treating him as somewhat of an “emotional baggage compartment”. Only there to help Mike through pointless relationship problems with El, when he’d really been neglecting checking in to see if Will had been okay through it all.

“I’m such an asshole,” Mike murmured to himself, rubbing his temple with his fingers.

He shot up from his sleeping bag, deciding that it wasn’t worth it trying to sleep with his thoughts, and quietly creeped up the basement stairs in order to not wake his rather odd guest. If anyone saw him, he could just say he was getting water. Which, honestly, could really help as a distraction from the situation he was in right now. The pitter-patter of rain sounded outside the window, which only fueled the mood even more.

However, his endeavor was quickly put to a stop when he noticed a familiar face also standing in the kitchen, looking just as dumbfounded as he was.

“Hi,” Will uttered, a glass of what Mike hoped was water and not Murray’s vodka clutched tightly in hand.

“Hey,” Mike croaked in response.

“I was just-”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just- uh- getting water. Yeah.”

“Oh. Here.” Will quickly filled a cup for Mike and passed it to him. The brush of Will’s fingers against his sent chills up Mike’s spine, though he tried not to show it.

“Thanks.”

The two sat in silence, awkwardly sipping their individual cups of water before Mike decided to break the tension.

“About what he said-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Will interrupted, diverting his gaze from Mike. “It’s- it’s not true, anyways.”

“No, no, it is,” Mike replied. Will’s heart fluttered for a moment before Mike quickly caught himself. “I mean, the stuff about the emotions. And everything. I’m- I’m sorry if I keep using you as a “baggage compartment”, or whatever he said. I’ve been an ass to you and you’ve been so tolerating of it and I’m sorry.”

Will was unsure of what to say, so he just nodded. Mike had been an ass to him and still, all he wanted to do was grab his dumb face and kiss him. He hated it.

“Will?” Mike placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, snapping Will out of his daze. “You okay?”

Will jumped, turning red in the face before jerking his shoulder away. “Fine. Just tired. Goodnight.”

Without another word, Will turned and walked back to Mike’s room, leaving the latter standing in the kitchen. He didn’t bother looking back at him in fear of doing something he would probably regret. Will slammed the door to the room rather loudly. He still wanted to punch Mike for hesitating in letting him share it.

Why did he hesitate, anyways?

He sat on the edge of the bed, the bed he’d half grown up in. He’d had countless sleepovers and hangouts with Mike in this bed, but now it just felt empty. Empty and sad. The rain that was currently pouring outside didn’t help the mood. Will’s mind drifted, and he was brought back to the fated day, the day where it was pouring outside and all he had wanted to do was play DND with Mike and Lucas, then Mike had said that…thing to him, and he’d left. And then, in a pure fit of rage…he’d destroyed Castle Byers.

“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”

Will buried his head in his hands, sighing shakily. He knew harboring feelings for Mike would only lead to heartbreak. He knew, and still, his crush only continued to grow. He’d been absolutely heartbroken when Mike had begun dating El. Whenever the phone rang, Will always became hopeful that Mike was calling for him, but it was never the case. It was always El.

Murray was right. Right about everything.

Without thinking, Will walked over to the door, placing his hand on the doorknob. He needed to say something. If he didn’t, he feared he never would. Just as he swung the door open, however, he was met with a pair of brown eyes staring back at him. He blinked, trying to process the sight.

“Hi,” Mike said, a smile curving at his lips.

“Hi,” Will echoed, suddenly realizing how close the two were.

Mike visibly hesitated before talking again. “Murray was right.”

“You’ve said that.” “No. I mean…about everything.”

Unsure how to respond, Will stood in the doorframe like an idiot, watching as Mike clearly had some sort of mental battle that he couldn’t see very well on the surface. He exhaled deeply, making direct eye contact with Will.

“I hope you thought he was right too.”

“What do you-”

Will was cut off by a pair of lips on his. He froze for a second, processing the action, before feeling his entire body melt into it. However, just as soon as it had started, Mike pulled away, eyes wide, as if in shock over what he himself had just done.

“Holy shit,” Mike murmured, observing Will’s expression (which was unreadable to him), “holy shit, I’m so sorry.”

Will couldn’t help but grin at Mike’s awkwardness, gently snaking an arm around his neck and pulling him so close that their foreheads touched. Both boys’ breathing was incredibly shaky as they stared at each others’ lips.

“Yeah, I think Murray was onto something,” Will chuckled.

“Think so?” Mike replied. “I couldn’t sleep down there anyway, he snores so goddamn loud.”

At this, both laughed in unison, though rather quietly so they didn’t wake up the house. All of a sudden, their laughter stopped as Will focused on Mike’s lips. His voice could barely be heard above the pouring rain, but Mike managed to make it out.

“It’s always been you,” Will breathed.

“I know,” Mike whispered, “I know.”

Will leaned in first this time, drawing Mike closer to close the gap between the two. Mike sighed into the kiss, eliciting a smile from Will as he reached up to run his hands through Mike’s curls. Mike gently cupped Will’s face in his hands, drawing him ever closer.

It started sweet and gentle, but gradually, both became more desperate. Will pulled back, suddenly realizing as he heard the creak of a door down the hallway that the bedroom door was still very much open and that anyone walking past would see the two of them making out.

“Shit. Close the door.”

Mike laughed, quickly slamming the door shut and locked. Before he had time to refocus himself on Will, he was pinned against a wall as Will kissed him desperately. Mike was grabbing his shirt, pulling him closer. He swiped his tongue along Will’s lip, asking for entrance, which only served to deepen their kiss more. Finally, after what seemed like hours, both pulled away, breathing heavy as they tried to put lost air back in their lungs.

“Well. Shit,” Mike breathed.

“Shit,” Will agreed.

“This means I can stay in my own bedroom now, right?”

“Shut up,” Will laughed, pressing a kiss onto Mike’s lips.

“Also,” Mike started, “what- what does this mean?”

“It means we just made out for a good five minutes because of a man in your kitchen who drank too much vodka.”

Mike laughed, but his expression soon turned serious. “No. Really. What does this mean?”

Will stayed silent for a moment. His hands were still scrunched up in Mike’s shirt. His heart was still beating a mile a minute. His lips were still red from making out with his crush since, well, forever.

“I- I don’t know,” Will admitted.

Mike wrapped his arms around Will, this time just pulling him in for a simple hug. “Okay. I understand. I mean, we are kind of in the middle of the apocalypse right now. And my house is overflowing with people and if we keep doing this we’ll probably get caught.”

The two laughed, staying like that, hugging each other, in the middle of Mike Wheeler’s room. Both could’ve honestly stayed like that forever.

“I guess we have Murray to thank,” Mike joked.

“And the sleeping arrangements that someone refused to comply to,” Will added.

Sharing a room with Will Byers was taking him back to old times, sure, but as Mike kissed Will once more, he felt it. Something he hadn’t felt with El or anyone else.

Mike didn’t mind these new feelings. They were better than anything he could’ve ever imagined.

#stranger things #stranger things s4 #st s4 spoilers #st s4 #byler #byler fanfic #mike wheeler #will byers #murray bauman #mike wheeler x will byers #be gay make byler canon #this was really messy i'm sorry #anyways duffer bros when is this happening #love how i was saying i didn't ship anyone like a week ago #and now all of you byler delusionals have turned me over to the dark side #my writing

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