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Mike walked into the kitchen, taking off his glasses. He couldn't explain why, but he felt more comfortable being vulnerable at this moment.
The first thing he saw when he walked into the kitchen was an elderly woman sitting at the dining table, a cigarette in her hand.
"You must be Mike," said The Oracle.
Mike nodded, not sure if he was ready to speak yet.
"It's good to finally meet you," said The Oracle. "I know a lot about you, young man."
"There's not much to tell," Mike replied. "I'm just a regular guy who had his mind freed. I'm grateful to Lucas for that."
Mike was surprised by The Oracle's facial expression after he spoke. If anything she looked amused about what he had just said.
"If only things were that simple, Mike," said The Oracle. "You're more important to the great scheme of things than you realize."
Mike frowned.
"Me? I'm nobody special," he said. "I'm just another guy whose mind was freed, like I said. I may be a good hacker and a decent fighter, but I'm just like every other red pill."
The Oracle took a deep drag of her cigarette before she put it out on ashtray next to her arm. She pointed at the sign behind Mike.
"You know what that means?" she asked. Mike turned to look up at the sign and shook his head when he faced The Oracle again. "It's Latin. It means, 'Know thyself.'"
Mike nodded, not sure where this conversation was now headed.
"Lucas has told you The Prophecy of The One?" The Oracle asked. Mike nodded. "But you don't believe it, do you?"
"Honestly, I don't know," Mike said. "It seems a little far-fetched, but I've seen some of things that Lucas can do, or that El can do when she jacks in, and it doesn't seem that incredible."
The Oracle nodded.
"The One will likely seem himself as just another guy, the same as you, Mike. It will take some pushing to get him to accept who and what he is."
"Why?" Mike asked.
"I'm sorry, but I can't answer that. But what I can tell you is you will be who convinces The One of their power."
"Me? Why me?"
"Because you're going to fall in love with The One," said The Oracle.
Mike scoffed, looking away from The Oracle to hide his smile.
"What's funny?"
"I'm not one for love," Mike said.
"Maybe in your old life, perhaps. You were always chasing the wrong person. But I've seen your heart, Mike Wheeler, and you are capable of love, even if you don't believe it."
"I have a hard time accepting that," Mike said.
"Why deny what will happen?" The Oracle challenged. "I have seen your role in bringing The One to power. The One will seem like a dead man, but you will have the power to bring him back to life, bring him to the full realization of his power."
"What if I can't? What if I fail?"
"Then hope for humanity may be lost," said The Oracle. "But I believe you will succeed, Mike."
"Why?"
"Because I see your heart," said The Oracle. "You are capable of so much love. There is a lot of power in love, Mike. And you have that power. You just have to trust yourself when the time comes."
"When will I know?" Mike asked.
"You'll just know."
The phone rang twice before someone answered it.
"Yeah," said Cypher.
"Is everything in place?" Mike asked.
"You weren't supposed to relieve me.
"I know, but I felt like taking a shift."
"You like him, don't you? You like watching him."
"Don't be ridiculous," Mike said, exasperated.
"We're gonna kill him. You understand that?"
Mike knew that Cypher was full of shit. He scoffed slightly.
"Lucas believes he is The One."
"Do you?"
With all my heart, but you can't know that. Not yet anyway.
"It doesn't matter what I believe," Mike said.
"You don't, do you?"
Before Mike could reply, he heard a faint noise on one end of the phone. He frowned.
"Did you hear that?" he asked.
"Hear what?"
"Are you sure this line is clean?"
"Yeah, of course I'm sure."
"I better go," Mike said, hanging up the phone. He had an uneasy feeling that they were being listened to.
Mike walked through the club, his eyes set on his target. Will Byers was standing alone, looking at Mike that he was uncomfortable being around so many people. Will had his arms crossed and it looked like he was trying to make himself as small as possible.
Mike's heart was racing. He knew what he had to do, but he was nervous about it. He could hear The Oracle's words in his mind, telling him that he would know when he was ready. Still, doubt raced through his mind like a virus that was unstoppable. Mike sighed before he walked up to Will.
Will seemed to sense that someone was approaching him. He turned to look at Mike.
"Hello, Will," Mike said.
"How do you know my name?" Will asked, frowning.
"I know a lot about you."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Mike Wheeler."
"Mike Wheeler," Will said, rolling Mike's name around on his tongue for the first time. Mike's heart skipped a beat. Suddenly, Will's eyes widened.
" The Mike Wheeler? The guy who cracked the IRS d-base?"
Mike smiled to himself.
"That was a long time ago."
"Jesus," Will said, looking away for a moment. He seemed lost in thought.
"What?" Mike prompted.
"I don't know, it's just, you're not what I pictured."
"That's what a lot of people say," Mike said.
Will looked at Mike as another thought seemed to occur to him.
"That was you in my computer," Will said. Mike didn't confirm or deny it. "How did you do that?"
"Right now, all I can tell you is that you're in danger," Mike said, walking closer to Will and looking deep into his eyes. They were exactly as Mike pictured them. "I brought you here to warn you."
"Of what?" Will asked.
"They're watching you, Will."
"Who is?"
"Please, just listen."
Mike walked even closer to Will. He saw Will tense up as he approached and he wanted nothing more than to console Will and tell him everything was going to be okay. But there was a time and place for that, and this was not that moment. He had to get the message out.
Mike leaned into Will's bubble and whispered into his ear.
"I know why you're here, Will," Mike said, trying not to sound cryptic. "I know what you've been doing. I know why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night, you sit at your computer. You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him. I was looking for an answer.
"It's the question that drives us, Will. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did."
"What is the Matrix?" Will asked.
"The answer is out there, Will, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to."
Once Will's mind was free, it was just a matter of finding his body once the machines released it. Luckily, the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar didn't have to search too long for Mike. The scanners picked up his signal and the ship lowered to the water and fetched Mike. A large crane reached down into the water and grabbed Mike, slowly raising him out of the water and into the ship.
Dustin, El and Max helped Will out of the crane once he was inside the ship. Max threw a towel around him to start to dry him off. Mike and Lucas walked up to Will, who could just barely make them out; his vision was blurry.
"Welcome to the real world," Lucas said before Will passed out.
The next thing Will knew, he was lying down on something. His head was pounding and it felt like a dozen bricks were on his chest. He could hear the voices of Mike and Lucas around him and he struggled to hear what they were saying.
"We've done it, Mike, we have him," Lucas said.
"I hope you're right," Mike replied.
"We don't have to hope. We just have to believe."
Will stirred slightly, catching both Mike and Lucas' attention.
"Am I dead?" he whispered.
"Far from it," Lucas replied.
Will passed out again, his body overwhelmed by the act of consciousness. He had no idea how much time had passed when he next woke up. But now there were dozens of needles poking his entire body.
"He still needs a lot of work," said Mike.
"What are you doing?" Will asked.
"Your muscles have atrophied," Lucas said. "We're rebuilding them."
"My eyes are..." Will said, struggling to keep his eyes open.
"You've never used them before," said Lucas.
Will was starting to panic now. He calmed down when he felt a hand on his forehead, patting him gently.
"It's okay, Will," Mike said just loud enough for him to hear. "Just rest. The answers are coming."
"Okay," Will replied, nodding slightly before he passed out again.
Will followed Lucas up the ladder to the rest of the ship. His mind was overwhelmed with what Lucas had told him so far, and Will wanted nothing more than to see Mike. He figured this was the best way for him to see the mysterious man who he considered a friend.
"This is my ship, the Nebuchadnezzar," Lucas explained. "It's a hovercraft."
Will pulled himself away from the ladder and got a first look at the rest of the ship. He couldn't see anyone he had met while still connected to The Matrix, disappointing him slightly.
"This is the main deck," Lucas said, gesturing around him. He started to walk through the ship and Will started to follow him. One of the crew members saw Will and started to follow him.
Lucas pointed out the core, where the crew would be able to hack into the Matrix, whatever it was. Will had a look at all of the machinery and found himself still overwhelmed by everything.
"Most of my crew, you already know," Lucas said, gesturing to Mike, who was making some sort of repair. Mike took off his goggles and smiled warmly at Will. Will felt better that he had seen Mike.
"This is Apoc," Lucas said, gesturing to a young woman who had driven Will to meet Lucas while in The Matrix.
"Switch," said Lucas, gesturing to the woman who had pointed a gun at Will in the Matrix before he was debugged.
"And Cypher," Lucas said, tapping one gentleman on the arms.
"Hi," said Cypher, sounding nervous.
"The ones you don't know," Lucas said, gesturing to two young women who were sitting around the large computer in the center of the room. "My wife Max, our pilot, and El, our gunner."
El and Max both gave Will a smile. Will was feeling a little bit better about the whole thing now that he had a name for all the faces in the room.
"And the guy behind you there is Dustin, our operator," Lucas said, pointing to Dustin.
Will turned to look at Dustin and smiled at him. Dustin grinned at him nervously.
When Will had finished his martial arts training with Lucas, he had been exhausted. As soon as he retreated to his bedroom, Will had fallen fast asleep. He hadn't woken when Mike had knocked to tell him dinner was ready.
After dinner, Mike had prepared a tray of food for Will and walked into the bedroom. Will was still fast asleep and looked like he might stay that way for the rest of the night. Mike quietly walked toward Will and set the tray of food next to Will on the table next to him.
Mike took a moment to look at Will. His first thought was that Will was beautiful. This thought troubled him slightly. Although Will was certainly capable in the Matrix, he still hadn't quite shown himself to be The One. Mike worried that maybe his feelings that were developing for Will were wrong. After all, The Oracle had been right about everything else she had ever predicted involving Mike.
Mike sighed as he gently patted Will's head and walked out of the bedroom. He took great care to close the door quietly. When the door had shut, Mike saw Cypher leaning against the wall next to it. Mike scoffed at his crew mate.
"I don't remember you ever bringing me dinner," Cypher said. Mike rolled his eyes and didn't respond. Cypher changed the topic. "There is something about him, isn't there?"
"Don't tell me you're a believer now," Mike said, feeling skeptical that Cypher would suddenly change his tone.
"I keep wondering, if Lucas is so sure, why doesn't he take him to see The Oracle?"
"Lucas will take him when he's ready," Mike said before he turned and walked away.
Will walked into the kitchen of the apartment. He could see an elderly woman watching the oven like a hawk. She didn't look up when Will walked into the room, but she seemed to sense his presence as she held up a hand when he stood in the doorway.
"I know you're Will, be right with you," she said.
"You're The Oracle?" Will asked.
"Bingo," said The Oracle. She turned to look at Will. He was taken aback by her appearance. She could have easily passed as someone's grandmother. She turned to look at Will, grinning at him. "Not what you were expecting right?"
Will shook his head.
The Oracle turned her attention back to the oven. She sniffed deeply.
"Almost done!" she exclaimed, standing up and reaching for her oven mitts. She sniffed the air again, turning to Will with a smile on her face. "Smell good, don't they?"
"Yeah," Will said absently. He had a hard time smelling much of anything when he was inside the Matrix. It was odd that this used to be his reality and now he was detached from it.
"I'd ask you to sit down," The Oracle said as she took the cookie sheet out of the oven and placed it next to the stove. "But you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the vase."
"What vase?" Will asked, frowning as he turned. His arm brushed up against a vase, which knocked it off balance and sent it tumbling to the ground, shattering into several pieces.
"That vase," said The Oracle calmly.
Will was embarrassed. He could feel his face turning red and he felt like a helpless kid all over again.
"I'm sorry," Will said sheepishly.
"I said don't worry about it," The Oracle replied, taking off her apron and grinning at Will. "I'll get one of my kids to fix it."
"How did you know?" Will asked.
"Ohhhh," said The Oracle, grabbing a cigarette out of the carton she was holding. "What's really going to bake your noodle later on is," she said, striking the match. "Would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?"
The Oracle lit her cigarette and took a puff out of it as Will considered her question. There was a beat before The Oracle spoke again.
"You're cuter than I thought," she said as she walked over to the dining table, her eyes on Will the whole time. She sat down. "I can see why he likes you."
Will frowned. The first name that came to mind was Mike, but he brushed that aside.
"Who?" Will asked.
"Not too bright, though," The Oracle said, taking a puff. "You know why Lucas brought you to see me?" Will nodded at her. "So, what do you think? Do you think you are The One?"
The Oracle picked up a glass and drank from it, her eyes never leaving Will.
"Honestly, I don't know," said Will.
The Oracle gestured behind Will with the glass.
"You know what that means?" she asked. Will turned to look at the sign "It's Latin. It means 'know thyself.'
"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret," The Oracle said as Will returned his attention to her. "Being The One is just like being in love. No one can tell you you're in love, you just know it. Through and through, balls to bones."
Will considered The Oracle's words as she stood up, putting on her glasses.
"Well, I'd better have a look at you," she said, walking over to Will. "Open your mouth, say, 'Ah'."
Will did as instructed and felt like he was in a doctor's office. The Oracle put her hands on his face and pushed down on his cheeks to look at the bottom of his eyes. She turned his head to look at his ears before lifting his head to look at his neck. She then took both of Will's hands in her own and looked at them contemplatively.
"Okay," she said. "Now I'm supposed to say, 'Hmm, that's interesting, but' then you say..."
The Oracle looked up at Will.
"But what?" Will asked.
"But you already know what I'm going to tell you."
"I'm not The One," Will said.
"Sorry, kid," said The Oracle. "You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something."
Mike stared at Will, tears running down his face. Cypher's betrayal had cut deep, and he had already killed Apoc and Switch. He had seemingly killed Max and El when he returned to the ship, but Cypher hadn't confirmed it. Now he was threatening to kill the rest of the crew.
"God damn you, Cypher!" Mike shouted into the phone.
"Don't hate me, Mike, I'm just a messenger," Cypher replied. "And right now I'm going to prove it to you."
There was a beat as Mike realized what Cypher wanted to do. He looked over Will with fear in his eyes. Will seemed resigned to his fate and nodded calmly at Mike.
"If Lucas was right, then there's no way I could pull this plug," Cypher said. "I mean, if Will is The One, then there'd have to be some kind of miracle to stop me. Right? I mean, how can he be The One if he's dead?"
Mike kept staring at Will, at a loss for words. Tears were forming in his eyes. His heart felt like it was about to shatter with what he knew was about to happen.
"You never answered me before," Cypher mused. "If you bought into Lucas' bullshit. Come on. All I want is a little yes or no. Look into his eyes, his big pretty eyes."
Mike didn't say anything but he looked at Will again. Will was staring back at Mike with a look of calm on his face that contrasted completely with the fear Mike was feeling.
"And tell me: yes or no?" Cypher asked.
Mike waited a moment before he replied.
"Yes," Mike breathed into the phone.
"No! I don't believe it!" Cypher said on the other line.
Mike frowned.
"Believe it or not, you piece of shit, you're still gonna burn!" Max shouted.
Mike could hear the sound of a lightning rifle activating. He heard Cypher scream and then all went silent for a moment.
"What is it?" Will asked, walking over to Mike
"I think Max is alive," Mike replied.
Will nodded at him as Mike hung up his cell phone. Mike seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Hey," Will said. "You okay?"
Mike nodded at him before he pulled Will into a hug. They held each other tightly for a few moments before the exit phone rang again. Will picked up the receiver and handed it to Mike.
"You first," he said.
El sighed as she wiped her hand, ready to pull the plug on Lucas. The rest of the surviving crew had gathered around Lucas, who was still jacked into the Matrix. El had concluded that Lucas' capture meant that the Agents would try to break into his mind in order to retrieve the codes to get into Zion, the human city.
"There must be a way we can stop this!" Will had exclaimed.
"There is," El had replied. "We pull the plug."
Mike had looked at El in shock.
"You're gonna kill him? Kill Lucas?"
"We don't have a choice here," El had said. "Max, I'm sorry, but this has to be done."
Max had been on the verge of tears at this point. She wanted nothing more than for the crew to stage a rescue in the Matrix, but she thought it was hopeless. She nodded wordlessly as she looked down at Lucas and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
"I'm sorry, Lucas," she whispered. "I love you."
"Lucas, you're more than a leader to us," El said. "You're a father."
El went to pull the plug. She was just about to when Will shouted at her.
"Stop! This can't be happening."
"Will, this has to be done," El said.
"Does it?" Will asked. "This can't just be a coincidence. It can't be."
"What are you talking about?" Max demanded.
"The Oracle. She told me this would happen. She told me that I would have to make a choice."
"What choice?" Mike asked.
Will walked away, heading toward the computer area like he was about to jack back into the Matrix.
"What are you doing?" Dustin asked.
"I'm going in," Will said determinedly.
"No, you're not," Mike said gently, sounding patient.
"I have to."
"Will, Lucas sacrificed himself so that we could get you out. There is no way you're going back in."
"Lucas did what he did because he believes I'm something I'm not," Will said.
"What?"
"I'm not The One, Mike," Will said. "The Oracle hit me with that too."
Mike looked taken aback. His eyes widened as he took in what Will had told him.
"No, you have to be," Mike said.
"I'm sorry, I'm not. I'm just another guy."
"No, Will, that's not true. It can't be true."
"Why?"
Mike simply stared at Will, searching for the right thing to say. Will turned and started to head toward the computers again.
"Will, this is crazy," Dustin said. "They've got Lucas in a military-controlled building."
"Even if you somehow got inside, those are agents holding him," El said. "Three of them. I want Lucas back too, but what you're talking about is suicide."
"I know that's what it looks like," Will said. "But it's not. I can't explain to you why it's not. Lucas believed in something and he was ready to give his life, I understand that. That's why I have to go."
"Why?" Max asked.
"Because I believe in something."
"What?" asked Mike.
"I believe I can bring him back."
Once Mike and Will had sprung Lucas from the military building, Dustin had set up an exit for them in a subway. Max had promised to slap Lucas as many times as possible when the two of them had talked, and Lucas was actually looking forward to it.
The exit in the subway was located in a phone booth off to the side. The phone inside of it was already ringing when they reached it. Will stepped inside and picked up the receiver, handing it over to Lucas.
"You first, Lucas," he said.
Lucas grinned at him and took the receiver, placing it to his ear. In about a second, his body disappeared as it transferred out of the Matrix and back to the real world.
The receiver fell and Will picked it up, hanging it up, waiting for the phone to ring again.
"Will, I wanna tell you something," Mike said. "But I'm afraid of what it will mean if I do."
The phone started to ring again. Both men ignored it.
"Everything The Oracle has told me has come true," Mike said, still ignoring the phone as it rang again. "Everything but this."
"But what?" Will asked.
Mike sighed, not quite ready to answer that question yet. Will frowned as Mike stepped into the phone booth and over to the phone. Just as Mike went to pick up the phone, he turned and saw an Agent approaching the phone, drawing his gun. Mike held out his hand as if he could stop the Agent from firing his gun.
Mike woke up immediately.
"Will!" he exclaimed.
"What the hell just happened?" Dustin exclaimed.
"An Agent! You have to send me back!"
"I can't," Dustin said helplessly.
Mike stood up from his chair and walked over to Dustin's computer. He saw the Agent approaching Will in the Matrix and his heart started pounding as he knew he was helpless.
"Run, Will, run," he said, hoping that somehow Mike could hear him.
Instead of running, Mike watched Will turn around to face the Agent.
"What is doing?" Mike asked, turning to Lucas, who was watching the Matrix code with a glint in his eye.
"He's beginning to believe," Lucas said.
The crew watched as Will took on the agent inside the Matrix. It was a rough fight. The Agent seemed to have the upper hand for most of the fight, but Will was mostly able to hold his own. At one point, Will coughed up blood after a particularly ferocious blow.
"Jesus he's killing him," Mike whispered as he grabbed a tissue and gently wiped Will's mouth to clean up the blood.
Shortly after, Will had managed to defeat the Agent. But as a train approached, the Agent quickly possessed another body on board and gave chase to Will, who decided to run away rather than fight.
As he ran, Will contacted the ship. Dustin gave Will directions to a nearby exit. Mike scoffed at the irony. It was the same exit Mike had been planning to use when the phone was tapped because of Cypher during the shift Mike had taken to watch Will.
Just then, a proximity alert sounded. Sentinels were on the way. Lucas ordered Dustin to charge the EMP. El reminded Lucas that they could use the EMP until Will was out, otherwise it would kill him. Lucas acknowledged this, telling the others not to worry.
Will managed to stay ahead of the Agents in the Matrix. He reached the apartment building where the exit was and followed Dustin's final instructions to apartment 303. Will tossed the phone to the side as he ran up the fire escape and headed to the third floor, dodging bullets from the Agents as they fired on him.
Once inside the building, Will glanced around for apartment 303. As he searched he could have sworn he heard Mike's voice gently but firmly telling him to hurry. Will silently told Mike that he would hurry and would see Mike in just a minute.
Finally room 303 appeared and Will smashed into it. He stopped right in his tracks when he saw Agent Smith in the room, holding his gun out. Will didn't have any time to react or even move before a shot rang out.
Will flinched slightly as he realized he had been shot. He reached down to his stomach where the bullet had hit him and he saw blood on his fingers.
Agent Smith fired another shot at Will, which sent him flying back into the hallway and into a wall. Will grimaced in pain, but he tried to shake it off, determined to fight Agent Smith and get out. But Agent Smith was having none of it. He walked up to Will and emptied the entire magazine into Will's body.
Will squirmed as the bullets hit him and he could feel his heart rate speeding up and he knew that blood was getting everywhere. When the bullets finally stopped, Will was feeling lightheaded and he slowly crumbled to his knees, his vision going blurry. Before he even hit the ground, his eyes closed.
Mike watched in terror as Will's body twitched because of the barrage of bullets hitting him inside the Matrix. Will even groaned slightly before his body stopped twitching. Mike watched as Will let out a final breath and then stopped moving altogether. The monitor hooked up to Will started to beep as Mike flatlined. Mike stared at the machine in shock.
"It can't be," Lucas said from the side, hardly daring to believe what he had just seen.
"Will," Mike said, close to tears as he looked over Will's lifeless body.
Will didn't respond. He was really gone.
Except...
"The One will seem like a dead man, but you will have the power to bring him back to life, bring him to the full realization of his power."
Now, The Oracle's final prophecy she had given Mike was coming true.
Mike ignored everything else happening around him as the Sentinels started to tear into the ship. He leaned down to Will and whispered in his ear, not wanting anyone to hear what he was saying.
"Will, I'm not afraid anymore," Mike said. "The Oracle told me that I would fall in love with a dead man. And the man I loved would be The One."
Mike hardly dared believe what he was saying. But he had to press on. He had to hold on to that hope that The Oracle had been right and that he would help Will realize his potential as The One.
"So you see, you can't be dead," Mike said. "You can't be. Because I love you. You hear me? I love you."
Mike bent down closer to Will so that he could kiss him. Part of him felt foolish for this, but how else could he truly show Will just how in love he was with him? When Mike finished kissing Will, he saw Will's head twitch and heard a gasp of air from Will.
Mike looked up at the monitor. Will's vitals were returning. He was alive.
"Now get up!" Mike demanded.
Mike didn't need to look at the Matrix code to know that Will was getting to his feet in the Matrix. He knew that Will was alive and well and he had helped Will get to this point.
"He is The One," Lucas said in amazement.
There were a few moments as Will defeated Agent Smith before scaring off the other two agents. When his demeanor had calmed, the timing was perfect as the Sentinels were starting to break deeper into the ship and had reached the area where the crew was. Mike shouted Will's name to get him to get to the exit.
A Sentinel approached Mike and Will. Mike screamed out in terror as the machine bore down on him and Will. Before the Sentinel could attack, a powerful shockwave was sent through the room; Lucas had activated the ship's EMP.
Mike leaned over Will to protect him from any shattering debris, covering his own neck in the process. He felt the Sentinel fall to the ground beside Will and he could feel the electromagnetic pulse disable all the power around him. Still, Mike's only concern was keeping Will protected. If somehow Will hadn't gotten out, Mike was determined to make sure Will still looked like his normal self.
Mike had no idea how much time had passed. It could have been an hour or a day. But he finally sat up from covering Will when he felt Will stir beneath him.
Mike stared down at Will, hardly daring to believe that Will was alive, in spite of having literally died in The Matrix. He looked at Will in adoration and he could have sworn Will was looking at him too in the same way. Will's face was soft and he seemed to be blinking tears out of his eyes.
Will stared at Mike with a questioning look on his face. Mike nodded at him and Will grabbed Mike's neck, pulling him down for a kiss.
Mike's brain practically exploded. He hadn't really been able to react to the first kiss he had given Will, but now Will was kissing him and this was a whole other ball game. Will's lips were soft and he seemed to be leading Mike in their kiss and Mike was only happy to let him.
When they finally broke apart, they were both slightly breathless. Will was smiling up at Mike and Mike felt his heart melt. This was real. His feelings for Will were real. And this meant that Will was The One. But that's not why Mike loved him.
No, Mike loved Will simply because he was Will. Will being The One was just an extra part of him. Mike loved Will's kindness and his determination. When he had volunteered to rescue Lucas, Mike had followed him immediately, not just because he wanted to rescue Lucas, too. But Mike wasn't about to let Will go in there alone, not if he could help it.
Mike didn't say any of this. There would be time. What mattered now was telling Will the most important truth.
"I love you, Will," Mike said.
"I love you, too, Mike."