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The moment the door swung shut, Mikes head was in his hands. His face was flushed bright red, he knew it even without glancing in the mirror.
He felt like he just dived into a fucking volcano while simultaneously being dunked in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, his nerves completely shot and over what?
Will Fucking Byers flirting with him?
Okay, maybe he wasn't flirting, but that smirk? How he looked at him just then? He might as well have dropped to his knees and pledged the rest of his life to him with how hard Mike swooned.
Wait, no. He didn't swoon.
He didn't fucking swoon.
"What was that?" A small voice hit his ears finally and he almost felt like dying. "What was that?"
Of course the younger version of himself bared witness to it all, seeing what a mess he'd become was a whole different kind of cruel.
"Shut up, just — shut up." He groaned, shaking his head as he covered his face.
"H-He, um, Will?" His squeaky voice sounded stressed, Mike almost felt bad. "Our Will?"
"Shut the hell up, please." He pleaded, dropping his hands to his sides. “And he’s my Will, not yours.”
His younger self leaned over and locked the door to the restroom, whole restaurant be damned, before sliding down the door. He stared blankly ahead at the sinks, his face bright red.
"We like Will, don't we?" The twelve year old asked softly, his hands twisted in his lap. "Like, we like him?"
"Fuck." Mike covered his face again, peering through his fingers at the smaller boy before nodding.
"Shit." He whispered back.
Mike slid down the wall beside him, swallowing thickly as he ran a hand through his hand. "Love."
"What?" The smaller boy quickly swung his head around to stare at him, bewildered.
"We don't like Will," Mike sighed heavily, forcing his words out. "We love him."
"Oh." The smaller boy looked at him with wide eyes, his face beet red. "We love him? Like, real love? Grown up love?"
"Yeah." Mike leaned his head back against the door. "And we take way too fucking long to realize it too."
"When, um," The smaller boy scooted closer, big brown eyes staring up at himself. "When do we realize?"
"That we like him? Snowball of '84." Mike answered softly, staring down at his lap. "We realize we love him fall of '85, the day he moved to California. We lose him again and again and I don't know how to stop. He can't know about this, I can't lose him again just because I'm an idiot."
"Will wouldn't leave us like that." The smaller boy reasoned, though with one glance, Mike saw the fear in his eyes. This time, he did feel bad.
"We'd deserve it. You...You're the version of me that everyone loved, you haven't done anything wrong yet." Mike leaned his head back against the door dejectedly. "You're still good."
"Will thinks you're good." He argued, his eyebrows pinching together.
"Yeah, not anymore." Mike sighed, looking down at him. He frowned when he was met with a small smile.
"No, he does. Even if he was upset with you, he still defended you when I said you sucked. Sorry for that, by the way." He scooted a little closer, hugging his knees to his chest. "He thinks he lost you. He doesn't even know if you're still his best friend or if you still care about him at all."
"He told you that?" He asked quietly, watching the smaller boy as he gave a small shrug.
"He didn't have to." The younger boy tilted his head back against the door as he stared at the ceiling.
Mike was silent for a minute before he felt a tug at his sweater, he looked down to see his younger self smirking at him, somehow already fully accepting everything despite himself taking nearly three fucking years.
"Don't fucking look at me like that."
"You love Will, you love Will!" The smaller boy taunted, his face split in half with a grin. "You dumb shit, he was flirting with you and you up and run to the bathroom!"
"You ran to the bathroom first, dipshit!"
"You already knew you were gay, I was having a huge realization! You're just a dweeb!"
"You're a dweeb!!"
"He looked at you and you folded like a lawn chair!"
"Oh yeah, well... You're fucking twelve!"
"Oh ow, that really hurt me." Little Mike rolled his eyes, his mouth still pulled into a grin. "He was still flirting with you."
"Shut up, no he wasn't." Mike huffed, leaning back against the wall.
"He totally was, he was all like," Little Mike leans forward with a smirk, "I see right through you."
"Yeah, and then you lost your shit and almost pissed yourself." Mike grumbled, his flushed cheeks giving him away. "So shut up."
"You shut up." Little Mike ignored the dig, still grinning before his smile softened.
"He is really pretty, isn’t he?" He looked up at himself, his voice a little gentler.
Mike looked down at him, his expression softening as well. "He's beautiful. He's..." He sighed, shaking his head. "He's perfect. He's just so..."
"Will."
"Yeah," Mike smiled gently, his gaze going a little out of focus. "Exactly."
His younger self sighed quietly, picking at the hem of his shirt. "I miss my Will. Everyone else too, but...you know."
"It's different." Mike looks down at him as he nods.
"It's different." He agrees, crossing his arms over his chest. "Guess I know why now."
"Less traumatic this way, I think." Mike shrugged as his younger self snorted.
"Speak for yourself, you didn't get ripped from your dimension and stuck in this hell hole." The tween smirked at him as he rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, at least now maybe he won't dance with that bitch at the Snowball." Mike grumbled, his younger self huffing a laugh.
"I hope when I grow up, I'm not still referring to thirteen year old girls as bitches." He joked.
"Too late. Your fate's sealed."
His younger self snorted, resting his head back against the door. The moment was silent before…
"If you tell him, I'll kill you." Mike said glancing down at the younger boy who rolled his eyes.
"He wouldn't let you." He responded, a tiny smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth.
"No." Mike smiles softly to himself. "No, he wouldn't."
"He might kill us both if we stay in here any longer." He looked over at him, a hesitant look on his face.
"Yeah," Mike groaned as he pulled himself up to his feet, the younger boy following suit. "Just, act natural. Don't be weird about it."
"Are you kidding?" The smaller boy snorted. "I've never been weird about anything in my life."
It was easier said than done, it turned out, because the second they walked out Will was watching them with a sense of confusion and worry that made him feel vaguely nauseated. On top of that, his younger self turned a shade darker every time Will so much as breathed.
So much for not being weird...